Because of the faster aging of the Italian population, the share of young people is one of the lowest anywhere in the world. The consequence is that the gains made by the younger generations have only limited impact on the average level of educational attainment.
Too many adolescents still abandon their studies, and those who stay in school have a harder time learning than their peers in the rest of Europe. In 2004 only 76 out of every 100 young people of graduation age got their upper secondary diplomas, one of the lowest percentages among the advanced countries.