UNESCO 2026 Report: Romania Has the Highest School Dropout Rate in the EU. What's Behind It?

A new UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report just featured Romania - and the numbers are stark.

In 2024, Romania had the highest early school leaving rate in the EU: 16%, vs. an EU average of 9%. In 2002, six countries were in the same position. By 2024, Portugal had cut its rate by 80%, Bulgaria by 47%. Romania barely moved.

Three reasons the report points to:

1. Money spent, systems not built. Romania invested over $500M USD in anti-dropout measures by 2021. But fragmented coordination between ministries and weak local implementation meant little changed on the ground.

2. A policy mistake in 2009. Abolishing short vocational schools in rural areas pushed kids into 4-year urban programmes many couldn't afford or access. Over 55,000 teenagers dropped out as a result.

3. Growing Roma segregation. The share of Roma children in schools where most peers are also Roma jumped from 28% in 2016 to 43% in 2024. Progress in attainment, regression in inclusion.

Regional gaps are also widening — the Vest region dropped from 24% to 9%, while Sud-Est went from 24% to 26%.

👉 [Full UNESCO 2026 Report on Romania](https://www.unesco.org/gem-report/en/2026-gem-report-country-case-studies/romania?hub=1074)

🗯️For the GlobalRomania community:
If you had 1 hour a month to help a student in Romania stay in school, what would you do?