GAPS IN THE EDUCATION LEVEL BETWEEN RURAL AND URBAN AREAS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION.

The paper aimed to analyze the education level in the EU rural areas and identified the gaps exiting between different member states compare to the EU average according to ISCED 2011classification mainly for the population aged 15-64 years. The Eurostat data were processed determining the differences in percentage points registered in the year 2021. The results showed that, in more than 50% EU member states, the share of the rural population is over the EU mean of 22.3%. With 44.9% and 44.7%, Slovakia and Romania could be considered rural countries. The demographic changes in the rural areas have had a deep influence on enrollment and future labor force reserve. The early school-leaving rate is the highest in the rural areas, while tertiary education has lower percentages, on the last position being situated Bulgaria and Romania (below10%). The EU rural population aged 15-64 years has a higher share than the EU average of 25.5% for "Less primary, primary and lower secondary education (level 0-2)" in only 9 countries: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta, Bulgaria, Romania, Denmark and Hungary. Compared to the EU mean of 74.5% for "Upper secondary, post secondary non-tertiary education (level 3-8)", a lower level was registered in only in 9 countries: Hungary, Denmark, Romania, Bulgaria, Malta, Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal. The EU average for "Upper secondary and post secondary non-tertiary education (level 3 and 4)" accounted for 53% and this rate was higher in only 7 states: Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, Romania, Hungary and Germany. For "Tertiary education (levels 5-8)", the EU-27 average is 21.4% and a higher rate was found only in 14 countries: Ireland, Belgium Luxemburg, Slovenia, Sweden, Cyprus, France, Estonia, Lithuania, Malta, Spain, Netherlands, Finland, Austria. The large variation of education level in the rural areas from a country to another has a deep impact on economic and social development. For this reason, besides the EU strategy, each country has to adapt its policy and strategy to the local situation and needs. Education and work force crises in the rural areas should be solved by a better infrastructure, more and highly competent teaching staff, a modern endowment in rural schools and a competence oriented curricula, extend of IT skills and digitalization, creation of partnerships and networks, exchange of experience and good practices, educational platforms and internet connections to ensure the permanent interlinks in the community and in the territory, and a proper financing for the field of education from the budget and access of the EU financial support provided by CAP 2021-2027, European Regional development Fund (ERDF), European Social Fund (ESF), EaSIF-European and Social Innovation Fund, ERASMUS Programme and Horizon 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]