Participation in Lifelong Learning in Europe

Lifelong learning (LLL) is seen as the cornerstone of the Lisbon strategy set in 2000 according to which the European Union (EU) by 2010 should become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economic area in the world, as well as a more cohesive and inclusive society. Although the Member States have acknowledged the importance of LLL, in year 2002 58% of the EU population aged 25-64 did not participate in any kind of learning (Kailis and Pilos, 2005). According to Community Labour Force Survey (2003) differences between countries are very significant, ranging from a participation rate of 12% in Hungary and 17% in Greece to 82% in Luxembourg and Slovenia and 89% in Austria (see Figure 1). However, if we analyze data not for the whole year but for one month, the average participation rate is 9.9% of population aged 25-64 and the leading countries are Sweden (35.8%), Denmark (27.6%) and Finland (24.6%). The countries of least participants are Greece (2%), Hungary and Slovakia, both 4.6% (see Table 1 and Figure 2). From this we can conclude that for the majority of citizens learning is only a temporary activity. It is also rather obvious that there is a great difference in participation between Nordic and Southern Countries.
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