Persons aged 18 to 25 years who have left education without a basic educational qualification. A basic educational qualification means that a person has successfully completed senior general secondary education (HAVO), pre-university education (VWO) or basic vocational education (MBO-2), or obtained a previous qualification at an equivalent level.

The figures relate to the total number of early school leavers aged 18 to 25 years. This is the total number of persons aged 18 to 25 years without a basic educational qualification in the Netherlands. The number has been derived from the labour force survey. It is not the annual number of new early school leavers, therefore. The annual cohort of early school leavers refers to the number of persons leaving education without a basic educational qualification in a given school year, and is based on educational records.