Non-traditional learning gained momentum in 2024, with more policy support and recognition, alongside lifelong learning initiatives for green-economy skills.

Key progress:

• Vocational and dual-model education expanded across Europe, with Serbia, Spain, and Bulgaria leading the way.
• The importance of STEM education is growing, and its promotion is accelerating alongside lifelong learning initiatives for green-economy skills.

Key setbacks:

• Public schools remain under-resourced while private institutions become more elitist.
• Student segregation, academic and social, persists across European education systems, including in France, Greece and Serbia.

Persistent gender pay gaps, limited childcare, and cultural care expectations continue to hinder women’s employment. In all the monitored countries, women are underrepresented in higher-paying and decision-making roles.

Key progress:

• The EU scored 71 out of 100 in the 2024 EIGE Gender Equality Index, a 0.8-point rise from 2023.
• According to the Index, the EU improved most in power (+ 2.3 points), driven by improvements in the sub-domains of economic power (+2.9) and social power (+2.5).

Key setbacks:

• Gender-based violence has been increasing across Europe, and feminicides reached record highs in Italy and Germany.
• Violence and aggression against LGBTQI+ people are rising.

Migration policy tightened in many EU countries including through illegal practices, while migrants still face discrimination, and barriers to decent work and essential services.

Key progress:

Germany, Slovenia, Serbia, and Croatia made reforms to promote labour migration, regularisation, and fair treatment for foreign workers.

Key setbacks:

Portugal’s transition to the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) caused major delays in residence permits.
Greece and Italy have continued illegal practices such as pushbacks and return hubs.

Minimum wages increased across Europe, but often failed to keep pace with inflation, leaving 8.2% of workers at risk of poverty.

Key progress:

• Employment rate reached 75.8% in 2024, a 0.5 percentage point increase from 2023, with growth partially driven by green economy jobs in countries such as Spain.

Key setbacks:

• Temporary and informal contracts persist in low-wage sectors, especially in Southern and Eastern Europe.
• Migrants, women and those in low-income regions remain most affected by pay gaps and wage disparities.

Occupational safety and health (OSH) remain a concern across Europe.

Key progress:

• Albania and Serbia implemented new OSH legislation frameworks.

Key setbacks:

• Kosovo, North Macedonia and Spain still rely on outdated legal frameworks that obscure incident data.
• The proposals to improve or update the frameworks in Kosovo and North Macedonia have either not yet been approved or not yet implemented.

Social dialogue remains uneven across Europe; relatively stable in Central Europe but weak in the Western Balkans.

Key setbacks:

• Tripartite social dialogue institutions in Albania and Kosovo were largely inactive, while no new collective agreements were reached in Serbia.
• Social dialogue remains highly ineffective in North Macedonia.
• 87% share apartments. Economically disadvantaged households, such as those headed by single parents or migrants, also face major challenges.
  The financialisation of the housing market has limited the availability of affordable housing. The shortage of social and public housing particularly affects vulnerable groups that cannot afford market prices.

There is a severe housing crisis across Europe, affecting social groups differently.

Key progress:

• The announcement of the European Affordable Housing Plan represents an important opportunity to expand affordable housing and address homelessness and exclusion.

Key setbacks:

• Young people increasingly struggle to access adequate housing, with soaring rents forcing many into shared living; around 70% of Spanish youth rent, and 87% share apartments. Economically disadvantaged households, such as those headed by single parents or migrants, also face major challenges.
• The financialisation of the housing market has limited the availability of affordable housing. The shortage of social and public housing particularly affects vulnerable groups that cannot afford market prices.

Poverty remains a major challenge in Europe, with 21% of the EU population at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2024. Of the EU’s three headline targets, reducing poverty continues to prove the most difficult.

Key progress:

• France has introduced several projects that facilitate access to benefits.

Key setbacks:

• Rising living and housing costs have hit single parents, migrants, and low-income
• Regional disparities persist, such as in Italy where the poverty rate is 2.5 times higher in the south than the north.
• Civil society in Portugal remains vital in providing welfare services due to lack of adequate public services.

Europe’s green economy has great potential as a contributor to social progress.

Key progress:

• Albania has introduced several initiatives to promote the green economy
• North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia, show strong potential for green job and green economy growth.

Key setbacks:

• Although the EU Quality Jobs Roadmap is a welcome proposal, it needs improvement to ensure it is driven by workers and communities, allocates sufficient funds, and fosters just transitions through a lifelong-learning approach.

Access to affordable energy remains a persistent challenge throughout Europe, with 9.2% of EU households unable to adequately heat their homes in 2024, reaching nearly 19% in Bulgaria and Greece.

Key improvements:

• Germany has put in place financial and counselling support to ease energy poverty.
• Bulgaria has developed energy communities under the EU Energy Community Initiative.

Key setbacks:

• High energy costs force many, especially poorer households, to rely on unsafe fossil fuels in inadequate housing.

Civic space in Europe remains under pressure, with several countries classified as “Narrowed” by the CIVICUS Monitor due to restrictions on protests and civil rights, and increasing intolerance toward divergent opinions. CSOs face criminalisation, funding cuts, and limited participation in decision-making.

Key setbacks:

• Excessive force and intimidation against protesters are used un countries like Greece and Serbia.
• Barriers to meaningful civil dialogue discourages CSOs from participating, as seen in Croatia, where public consultation involvement dropped sharply from 2023 to 2024.