Close to half of the teachers in Bulgaria are 50 or older – Eurostat

Forty-eight per cent of the teachers in Bulgaria are 50 or older, according to statistics released by EU statistics agency Eurostat on the eve of October 5, World Teachers Day.

In line with the pattern elsewhere in the EU, 83 per cent of the teachers in Bulgaria are women, Eurostat said.

The statistics agency said that 36 per cent teachers in the EU primary and secondary schools were 50 or more years old in 2015.

In Italy, more than half of teachers fell in this age group (57 per cent). High shares were also registered in Bulgaria (48 per cent), Estonia and Lithuania (both 47 per cent), Latvia and Germany (both 45 per cent).

Nine per cent of teachers in the EU were over 60 years old, with the highest shares in this age group found again in Italy (18 per cent) and Estonia (17 per cent).

In 2015, 5.7 million people worked as school teachers in the EU. These are teachers who work at primary through to upper secondary level.

Women were largely predominant, accounting for 72 per cent (4.1 million teachers).

Of the teachers working in the EU, 0.5 million (9 per cent of the total) were under 30 years old, while 2 million (around 36 per cent) were aged 50 or older.

In all EU member states, school teachers in 2015 were predominantly female. The share of female teachers was the highest in Latvia (87 per cent), Lithuania (85 per cent), Bulgaria and Estonia (both 83 per cent), Slovenia (81 per cent), Ireland and Italy (both 80 per cent).

(Photo: pixapopz)

Comments

comments

The Sofia Globe staff

The Sofia Globe - the Sofia-based fully independent English-language news and features website, covering Bulgaria, the Balkans and the EU. Sign up to subscribe to sofiaglobe.com's daily bulletin through the form on our homepage. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=32709292