If the economy is Romania's success story, education is the counter-example: the domain where almost nothing has moved. The international PISA tests, the only comparable measure of what students actually know, have shown the same level for nearly two decades, with roughly four in ten 15-year-olds below the minimum threshold of functional competence in reading and mathematics. In plain language: they do not fully understand a text they have just read.
Around this stagnant core, the other figures compose the same picture: early school leaving among the EU's highest, the lowest share of young university graduates, a record share of young people neither working nor studying. Beneath it all sits public education funding, consistently at the bottom of the Union and far from the legal target. No series here is collapsing, but none is climbing with any conviction.
The OECD test given every three years to 15-year-olds, comparable across countries and time. Romania's score is practically unchanged since 2006, far below the OECD average and among the EU's lowest. Nearly one in two students falls below the minimum proficiency level.
Source: OECD PISA (via Our World in Data)
· Dataset: pisa-test-score-mean-performance-on-the-mathematics-scale
· Open source
PISA: reading
mean score (OECD average ≈ 470–500)
volatilerecent trend, computed over 2000–2022
rank 24 of 26 in the EU (2022)
The ability to understand and use a text, the foundation of all other learning. Romanian scores stagnate at a level where roughly 42% of students are "functionally illiterate": they can read, but cannot extract and use meaning. Of all the numbers on this site, this one carries the deepest long-term consequences.
Source: OECD PISA (via Our World in Data)
· Dataset: pisa-test-score-mean-performance-on-the-reading-scale
· Open source
PISA: science
mean score (OECD average ≈ 470–500)
volatilerecent trend, computed over 2006–2022
rank 24 of 26 in the EU (2022)
The third PISA domain confirms the other two: a nearly two-decade plateau, with no wave signalling a change of direction. Low-level stagnation, not decline, is the data signature of Romanian education.
Source: OECD PISA (via Our World in Data)
· Dataset: academic-performance
· Open source
Early school leaving
% of 18–24-year-olds with at most lower-secondary education, not in training
stagnantrecent trend, computed over 2021–2025
the vertical dotted line marks a methodology change
rank 26 of 26 in the EU (2025) — last place in the EU
Young people who leave the system before finishing upper-secondary school. The rate fell visibly between 2015 and 2021, but has oscillated without clear progress since, and Romania remains near the top of the EU, with huge urban–rural gaps.
Source: Eurostat
· Dataset: edat_lfse_14
· Open source
Young people with tertiary education (25–34)
% of 25–34-year-olds
slowly decliningrecent trend, computed over 2021–2025
the vertical dotted line marks a methodology change
rank 27 of 27 in the EU (2025) — last place in the EU
The share of young adults holding a university degree, the fuel of an economy trying to move from "cheap" to "complex". Romania is last in the EU, far from the European target, and in recent years the share has slipped slightly rather than risen. Graduate emigration weighs further on the figure.
Source: Eurostat
· Dataset: edat_lfse_03
· Open source
Young people not in employment, education or training (NEET)
% of 15–29-year-olds
improvingrecent trend, computed over 2021–2025
the vertical dotted line marks a methodology change
rank 27 of 27 in the EU (2025) — last place in the EU
The starkest measure of waste: young people neither working, nor in school, nor in any training. Romania consistently records one of the EU's highest rates: potential lost precisely at the age when trajectories are built.
Source: Eurostat
· Dataset: edat_lfse_20
· Open source
Public spending on education
% of GDP
improvingrecent trend, computed over 2017–2024
rank 24 of 27 in the EU (2024)
How much of the country's wealth flows, through the budget, to schools, teachers and universities. For decades Romania spent among the lowest shares in the EU; recent salary increases have lifted the figure visibly, but the country stays near the bottom of the ranking, and the 6%-of-GDP target promised by the education law is far away. The stagnation of the indicators above has this explanation too.
Source: Eurostat
· Dataset: gov_10a_exp
· Open source