One out of five pupils in Romania (18.5% of the total school population) dropped out of school in 2016.

Romania thus ranks third in the EU among the countries with the highest dropout rate, after Malta, with a rate of 19.6%, and Spain, with a rate of 19%, according to data published yesterday by EU’s statistical office Eurostat.

Romania is one of the few countries where the dropout rate has increased in the last decade, from 17.9% in 2006 to 18.5% in 2016.

“The school dropout rate increased during the crisis period, and the bigger problems were recorded between 2009 and 2011. Due to the crisis, parents, especially those from rural and small town disadvantaged areas, failed to support their children to go to school,” said Mihnea Costoiu, the rector of the Politehnica University in Bucharest.

editor@romania-insider.com