Portugal has surpassed the European Union average in adult participation in training activities. According to data from Eurostat published this Monday, the country reached 16.9% of adults in training in 2025, a growth of 7.1 percentage points compared to the 9.8% recorded in 2015. Across the EU as a whole, the rate went from 10.1% to 13.7% in the same period, which means Portugal is now above the EU average.
Sweden clearly leads with 38.2% of adults in training, followed by Denmark (31.0%) and Finland (28.1%). At the opposite end, Greece has the lowest participation with just 5.2%, accompanied by Bulgaria (6.1%) and Croatia (6.5%). Malta, Estonia, Belgium and Slovenia were the countries that grew the most in the last decade, while France, Luxembourg and Denmark saw decreases.
At EU level, there is a gender difference of 2.5 percentage points, with 14.8% of women in training compared to 12.4% of men. Female participation grew even faster, rising four percentage points between 2015 and 2025, compared to an increase of 3.2 percentage points among men. Training was also more intense among those living in cities or suburbs (12.3%) than in rural areas (10.3%).
