Community adult education reaches people through formal courses, non-formal training, informal learning and publicly funded community programmes. Across the European Union, participation varies sharply by reference period, country, age, prior attainment and employment status. England’s government-funded community learning system provides a more focused view of participation and learner composition.
Contents
- EU participation levels and measurement
- Country differences
- Gender, age and educational attainment
- Employment and learning format
- Informal and job-related learning
- England’s community learning system
EU participation levels and measurement
The reported rate depends substantially on the period covered. In 2022, 46.6% of EU adults aged 25–64 participated in formal or non-formal education and training during the previous 12 months. Eurostat’s Adult learning statistics reports a different 2024 measure from the EU Labour Force Survey: 28.5% of adults aged 25–64 participated in education or training during the previous 12 months. These figures should be read as separate measurements rather than as a simple year-to-year trend.
Longer-term figures using a comparable working-age adult-learning measure show 40.2% participation in 2011 and 43.7% in 2016. Both figures refer to participation during the previous 12 months. Eurostat, Adult learning – participants
Shorter reference windows produce lower-looking rates. In 2015, 10.1% of EU adults aged 25–64 participated in formal or non-formal learning during the previous four weeks. The rate rose to 10.8% in 2019, then was 9.1% in 2020. These four-week figures do not measure the same thing as annual participation. Eurostat, Adult learning statistics
Recent four-week results also show differences by labour-market position and gender. In 2025, 14.9% of EU women aged 25–64 participated in adult learning, compared with 12.4% of men. Among unemployed adults aged 25–64, 15.9% had a recent learning experience. The unemployed figure is a specific recent-experience measure and should not be substituted for the 2022 annual participation rate reported below.
Country differences
The 2022 adult education and training figures show a wide spread across EU countries. Sweden recorded 73.9% participation among people aged 25–64, followed by the Netherlands at 65.2%, Hungary at 62.4% and Germany at 60.4%. At the lower end, Poland recorded 24.3%, Bulgaria 20.6% and Greece 16.6%.
| Country | Participation among adults aged 25–64 | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Sweden | 73.9% | 2022 |
| Netherlands | 65.2% | 2022 |
| Hungary | 62.4% | 2022 |
| Germany | 60.4% | 2022 |
| Poland | 24.3% | 2022 |
| Bulgaria | 20.6% | 2022 |
| Greece | 16.6% | 2022 |
Source: Eurostat, Adult learning – participants.
The more recent 2024 EU comparison similarly placed Sweden, Denmark, Estonia and Finland above 50% for adult education and training participation among people aged 25–64. Bulgaria and Greece were each below 9% in that measure. For unemployed adults in 2025, more than 50% had a recent learning experience in Sweden, while the proportion was below 5% in Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania. Eurostat, Adult learning statistics
These country comparisons describe participation levels, not the quality, duration or accessibility of individual programmes. They also use the measurement periods stated by each source, so a 2022 annual figure and a 2024 or 2025 recent-learning figure are not interchangeable.
Gender, age and educational attainment
In 2022, EU women aged 25–64 had a 47.2% education-and-training participation rate, compared with 46.0% for men. Women recorded a higher rate than men in 21 EU countries. Cyprus was a notable exception in the supplied comparison: men’s participation exceeded women’s by 17.7 percentage points. Eurostat, Adult learning – participants
Participation declined across the reported age bands. Among EU adults in 2022, the rate was 56.5% for ages 25–34, 49.9% for ages 35–44, 46.2% for ages 45–54 and 35.4% for ages 55–64.
Educational attainment showed an even wider difference. Formal or non-formal learning participation reached 65.7% among adults aged 25–64 with tertiary education, compared with 41.5% among those with medium educational attainment and 25.1% among those with low educational attainment. The figures identify a strong association between prior attainment and participation, but they do not establish why the difference occurs.
Within the medium-attainment group, 44.1% of adults from general programmes participated in education and training, compared with 40.7% of adults from vocational programmes. Those are participation rates for the specified educational-background groups in 2022, not completion rates for adult courses.
Employment and learning format
Employment status was associated with participation in 2022. Among EU adults aged 25–64, 53.9% of employed people participated in formal or non-formal learning. The corresponding rates were 29.2% for unemployed adults and 24.4% for adults outside the labour force. Eurostat, Adult learning – participants
The overall mix was dominated by non-formal learning. Formal education contributed 13.5% to overall adult learning participation among EU adults aged 25–64. Looking at adult learning participants, 5.6% were in formal education only, 7.9% were in both formal and non-formal education, and 86.5% were solely in non-formal learning activities.
| Adult learning participation category | Share of EU adult learning participants | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Formal education only | 5.6% | 2022 |
| Formal and non-formal education | 7.9% | 2022 |
| Solely non-formal learning | 86.5% | 2022 |
Source: Eurostat, Adult learning – participants.
The distinction matters for community education. A short course, guided workshop or structured workplace activity can fall within non-formal learning even when it is not part of a formal qualification pathway. The supplied figures quantify the distribution of participants by learning type; they do not provide course-hour totals or completion outcomes.
Informal and job-related learning
Informal learning was more widespread than formal or non-formal participation in the EU measure for 2022. Overall, 64.2% of adults aged 25–64 participated in informal learning during the previous 12 months. The rate was 65.1% for women and 63.2% for men. Eurostat, Adult learning statistics
Country variation was particularly large: informal learning participation was below 30% in Greece and exceeded 90% in Cyprus among EU adults aged 25–64. These figures describe informal learning, not the formal or non-formal country rates in the earlier table.
The OECD’s four-week measure provides another view across OECD and accession countries. Slightly more than 10% of adults aged 25–64 participated in non-formal education and training. Participation was 1% in Bulgaria and Türkiye, exceeded 20% in Denmark and reached 30% in Sweden. Women participated at 13%, compared with 10% of men. OECD, To what extent do adults participate in education and training?
Job-related learning formed a large part of that OECD measure: almost 80% of adults participating in non-formal education and training engaged in at least one job-related learning activity. The statistic applies to participating adults across the countries covered by the source and uses a four-week reference period.
England’s community learning system
England’s government-funded community learning figures focus on a defined public programme rather than all adult learning. In the 2022/23 academic year, 328,690 adults participated in government-funded community learning. Participation increased by 8.0% compared with the previous academic year. In 2012/13, 684,700 adults participated, giving the release a ten-year comparison point. Department for Education, Further education and skills: 2022/23
The 2022/23 learner profile also records changes in ethnic composition compared with 2018/19. Asian or Asian British learners represented 13.5% of community learning participants, up from 11.0%. Black learners represented 7.1%, up from 5.9%. Learners from mixed or multiple ethnic groups represented 3.2%, up from 2.4%, while other non-white learners represented 5.7%, up from 3.8%.
White learners accounted for 70.6% of England’s community learning participants in 2022/23, down from 76.9% in 2018/19. These are shares of participants, not population-adjusted participation rates, so they should not be interpreted as showing participation likelihood for each ethnic group.
A related England measure counted 448,060 adults participating in government-funded adult basic skills learning, including digital skills, during the 2022/23 academic year. This figure covers a different programme category from the 328,690 community learning participants and should be kept separate when describing the scale of publicly funded provision.