Nearly 1 in 5 adults in education or training | adult education - Statistics Netherlands

In 2017, over 1.7 million people in the Netherlands between the ages of 25 and 65 years participated in a form of adult learning, notes Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

Photo: Statistics Netherlands

This concerned formal education such as secondary vocational education (MBO) or higher professional education (HBO), as well as courses and workshops. This is evident from newly released figures by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on adult participation in learning. 

 

The Dutch government supports ‘lifelong learning’, enabling adults - whether in work or not - to acquire sufficient skills and knowledge to be or remain active in the labour market for the long term. Compared to other EU countries, relatively many adults in the Netherlands participate in learning: over 19 percent in 2017. Only in the Scandinavian countries, this share is even higher. In Sweden, more than three in ten adults engage in education or training, followed by Finland and Denmark. The Netherlands and France complete the top five of countries.

More adult participation in learning 
In 2017, over 19 percent of the adult population participated in education or training activities. This was still around 16 percent more than ten years previously. As a result, the Netherlands has long met the European standard for lifelong learning for 2020, set at 15 percent. The EU average stood at nearly 11 percent in 2017. For 2020, the Netherlands has set itself the objective of a lifelong learning participation rate of 20 percent among adults aged 25 to 64 years. This national target has not yet been reached. The share of adults participating in learning has been well above the average of the 28 EU countries.
Read more...

Source: Statistics Netherlands