Early leaver from education and training, previously named early school leaver, generally refers to a person aged 18 to 24 who has finished no more than a lower secondary education and is not involved in further education or training; their number can be expressed as a percentage of the total population aged 18 to 24.

For Eurostat statistical purposes, an early leaver from education and training is operationally defined as a person aged 18 to 24 recorded in the Labour force survey (LFS):

* whose highest level of education or training attained is ISCED 0, 1, 2 or 3c short;
* who received no education or training in the four weeks preceding the survey.

Source: EU commission (Eurostat) 2014, Europe