Europe’s teaching staff is ageing: 4 in 10 are over 50

Brussels – 5 October is World Teachers’ Day, but within the European Union the teaching profession is under strain, particularly when it comes to generational renewal, with some countries – including Italy – where half of all teachers are already over 50. According to Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, 5.3 million teachers worked in primary and secondary schools across the EU, up by 36,500 in 2024 compared with 2023. Of these, the majority are women (72.9 per cent), while men account for the remaining 27.1 per cent. In this context, however, teachers aged 50 or over accounted for 40.4 per cent, while those under 30 accounted for 8 per cent. Teachers aged between 30 and 34 accounted for 9.5 per cent, while those aged between 35 and 49 accounted for 11.6 per cent. The older age groups showed a more balanced distribution: each five-year age group between 40 and 59 accounted for between 14.1 per cent and 15.8 per cent of the total. Male teachers accounted for a fairly stable, narrow range (between 26 and 30 per cent) of the total across all age groups, except among the over-65s, where they accounted for 35.6 per cent.

The ageing of the teaching workforce is particularly evident in five EU countries where more than half of teachers are aged 50 or over: Lithuania (58.4 per cent), Portugal (55.6 per cent), Italy (54.3 per cent), Latvia (54 per cent) and Estonia (50.6 per cent). Conversely, the highest proportions of younger teachers were recorded in Ireland (20.8 per cent), Malta (20.9 per cent) and Luxembourg (22.0 per cent).

The highest proportion of teachers under the age of 30 is found in Luxembourg (15.3 per cent), Denmark (15.2 per cent), Belgium (14.9 per cent), and Austria (14.6 per cent). The lowest figures are in Cyprus (3.1 per cent), Portugal (3.3 per cent) and Poland (4.0 per cent). In 2024, in Italy, considering only the 250,961 teachers in primary education, there were 10,847 aged between 25 and 29 (only 1,533 were under 25), while 46,633 were aged between 50 and 54.