A student’s economic background strongly impacts academic achievement—especially in mathematics—according to the latest report by the European Training Foundation (ETF), titled “Training, Education, Skills and Employment: Trends and Developments 2024.” The findings are based in part on data from the OECD’s 2022 PISA test, which assesses the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds worldwide.
The data showed that students in the bottom 20% of the income distribution performed poorly in mathematics. In Albania, a staggering 82% of students from low-income families had very low math scores—the highest percentage in both Europe and the surrounding region.
ETF suggests that this figure can be used as a valuable indicator to assess the number of vulnerable youth and their potential educational needs. While not all socio-economically disadvantaged students perform poorly—some succeed despite the odds—this indicator combines academic results with socio-economic status to identify those facing multiple barriers to education and opportunity.
The foundation stresses that identifying this “double disadvantage” provides critical data to strengthen educational support for at-risk youth.
In nearly all non-EU countries studied, more than half of students from the lowest 20% income bracket face both academic and economic disadvantages. In Albania, however, this figure is much higher at 82%.
Countries such as Palestine, Jordan, Kosovo, Morocco, and Uzbekistan—ETF partner nations—also show similarly high rates of disadvantaged students struggling academically. Other countries like North Macedonia, Georgia, Moldova, and Montenegro report high percentages as well.
By contrast, countries such as Turkey, Israel, Kazakhstan, and Serbia have lower proportions of students from low-income backgrounds who face academic difficulties. The data clearly highlights an urgent need to improve education quality for vulnerable students across the region.
Recommended measures to improve learning outcomes include remedial programs and financial aid targeted at low-income families to ensure underprivileged students can overcome the obstacles they face.
ETF urges Albania—and other countries facing similar challenges—to address both academic and socio-economic factors simultaneously in order to achieve sustainable improvements in education outcomes.
