European and national policies on Vocational Education and Training (VET) need to be informed by sound and internationally comparable statistical evidence. The VET country statistical overviews are concise, descriptive and user friendly statistical reports. For each country, they quantify and compare key aspects of VET and lifelong learning. The selection is based on the indicators' policy relevance and their importance in achieving the Europe 2020 objectives.

VET indicators for Sweden for the last available year
Index numbers (EU=100)

NB:   The index numbers are derived from data summarised in the table. Data in the table have been rounded to one or two decimal places. The calculation of index numbers is instead based on not rounded data.

Sweden’s performance on a range of indicators selected to monitor progress in VET and lifelong learning across the European Union (EU) is summarised below. The chart compares the situation in Sweden with that of the EU, based on the most recent data available (this differs by indicator). Data in the chart are presented as an index where the EU average equals 100. If the index for a selected indicator for Sweden is 100, then its performance equals the EU average. If the index is 90, its performance is 90% of (or 10% below) the EU average. If the index is 200, Sweden’s performance is twice (or 200%) the EU average. For some indicators, such as early leavers from education and training, a country is performing better if its score is below that of the EU average.

Data on which the index is calculated are presented in the table, which also shows developments over time. A technical definition of each indicator is provided in the annex.

Key points

Access, attractiveness and flexibility

The share of upper secondary students in IVET in Sweden (38.2%) is well below the EU average (47.3%) in 2015 and decreased by 8.6 percentage points since 2013. The percentage of female students in upper secondary education participating in IVET is also below but closer to the EU average (37.1% compared to 42.0% in 2015). This value decreased in both Sweden (by 7.4 percentage points) and the EU (by 1.9 percentage points) since 2013.

Data for 2016 show that Sweden compares favourably with EU averages on participation in lifelong learning: the percentage of adults in lifelong learning (29.6%) is much higher than the EU average (10.8%) and well above the average target (15%) set by the strategic framework Education and training 2020. Older people (23.0%), unemployed adults (42.9%) and those with relatively low-level education (19.3%) are all much more likely to participate in education and training than is the case across the EU (the figures for Sweden are around three to four times higher than the corresponding EU averages).

The share of adults, in 2011, who wanted to participate in training but did not do so (7.2%), is lower than the EU average (9.5%). Data from the same source (AES) show that non-formal education and training is largely job-related (80.1%, on par with the EU average of 80.2%). Data for 2016 show that the percentage of young VET graduates in further education and training (31.4%) is slightly below the EU average (32.8%).

Skill development and labour market relevance

For many indicators in this group, Sweden records values close to the EU average, but there are some differences. Public expenditure on IVET as a percentage of GDP is higher (0.78%) than in the EU overall (0.54%) (based on 2014 data). This is also reflected in greater average expenditure per student: 10 500 purchasing power standard (PPS) units compared with the 8 400 PPS units in the EU. The percentage of innovative enterprises with supportive training practices is lower than in the EU (25.9% versus 44.8% in the EU, based on data for 2014).

The employment rate of IVET graduates (aged 20-34) at ISCED levels 3-4 (89.9%) is higher than the EU average (78.1%). Their employment rate is 6.2 percentage points higher than for graduates from general education (above the EU average premium of 5.7) and 27.3 percentage points higher than for graduates with lower-level qualifications (above the EU average premium of 23.4). All these employment figures relate to 2016 and exclude young people in further education and training.

Overall transitions and labour market trends

In this section all data refer to 2016 unless otherwise stated.

Sweden performs favourably on these indicators. The percentage of early leavers from education and training (7.4%) is lower than the EU average (10.7%) and lower than the Europe 2020 average target and the national target (both set at 10%). The share of 30 to 34 year-olds who have completed tertiary-level education (51.0%) is higher than the EU average (39.1%) and exceeds the Europe 2020 average target (40%) and the national target (40-45%). A relatively small share of adults in Sweden has a lower level of educational attainment (15.0% compared with 23.0% in the EU).

The employment rate for 20 to 64 year-olds (81.2%) and the employment rate of recent graduates (86.7%) are both higher than the corresponding EU averages (71.0% and 78.2%, respectively). In Sweden, the NEET rate (8.7%) is much lower than in the EU (15.2%). The unemployment rate for 20 to 34 year-olds (8.9%) is also lower than the EU average (11.8%). The employment rate of 20 to 64 year-olds with a low level of educational attainment is higher in Sweden (61.0%) than in the EU (53.6%), but has decreased since 

Score on VET indicators in the Sweden and in the EU, 2010,
last available year and recent change

EU refers to EU-28, unless otherwise specified. Arrows ↗ or ↘ signal a positive or negative change. Arrow → indicates: no change.

(A) UOE back reconstruction of 2010 values based on ISCED 2011 not yet available. (B) AES 2011, used as proxy for 2010 baseline. (C) 2014 b flags in Eurostat online tables ignored on the basis of other relevant Eurostat metadata. (D) Forecast made in 2016. (E1) Based on 28 countries, with partial information for NL. (E2) Based on 28 countries, with partial information for EL, ES, NL, PL, RO. (E3) Based on 28 countries, with partial information for IT, NL. (E4) Based on 23 countries (missing: DK, EL, HR, IT, PT), with partial information for IE and FR. (E5) Based on 23 countries (missing: DK, EL, HR, IT, PT), with partial information for IE and FR. (E6) Based on 28 countries, with partial information for DK, EL, NL. (E7) Based on 25 countries (missing: HR, IT, UK), with partial information for BE, CZ, DK, DE, EE, EL, LU, NL, PL, SE. (E8) Based on 25 countries (missing: IE, FR, UK), with partial information for BE, EL, LU. (E9) Based on 26 countries (missing: IE, UK), with partial information for DK, DE. (E10) Based on 28 countries. (b) Break after 2010, therefore baseline data not included. (u) Eurostat: ‘low reliability’. (z) Eurostat: ‘not applicable’. (e) Eurostat: ‘estimated’.

Country-specific report details

Country report type
Keywords

Downloads

Statistical overviews on VET - Sweden - 2017

EN 185.91 KB

Annex 1 – Short descriptions of indicators and additional notes

EN 74.35 KB

Annex 2 – Reading the Country statistical overviews

EN 39.5 KB

Annex 3 – 2017 Masterfile Country statistical overviews

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