Malta’s rate of early school leavers has fallen sharply over the past six years but remains marginally higher than the European average, according to the National Statistics Office’s latest Labour Force Survey. The Early Leavers from Education and Training (ELET) rate — the share of 18- to 24-year-olds who leave school without completing upper secondary education and are not in further training — dropped from 14.2% in 2019 to 9.5% in 2024.

While this marks a significant 4.7-point reduction, Malta’s figure still stands 0.1 percentage points above the EU-27 average. The improvement was driven primarily by young women, whose early school leaving rate fell by seven points over the period, compared with a 2.8-point decline among young men.

The NSO data also highlight progress in other youth indicators. The NEET rate — those aged 15–24 not in employment, education, or training — stood at 7.6% in 2024, 1.6 points lower than the EU average. Youth unemployment was 5.1%, also below the European level. The share of young people attaining at least upper secondary education rose to 87.2%, with Malta now outperforming the EU by 2.1 points.

Education improvements appear to be feeding into Malta’s broader labour market gains, especially among women. The female activity rate — the proportion of women aged 15–64 who are working or actively seeking work — reached 74.2% in 2024, a rise of 10.2 percentage points since 2019. This long-term upward trend, which began with the introduction of free childcare in 2014, continues to reshape Malta’s employment landscape.

Overall, the national activity rate stood at 81.8%, 6.5 points above the EU average. The gender employment gap narrowed from 20.5 percentage points in 2019 to 13.2 in 2024, reflecting both social policy effects and economic shifts toward service-sector jobs.

The data depict a country that has made major strides in education and labour inclusion but still faces a stubborn challenge in fully closing the early school leaving gap with Europe. Continued focus on retention, re-skilling and family support measures will be essential to consolidate these gains.