In 2022, the proportion of the resident population in Portugal aged 25 to 64 who participated in at least one formal education and/or non-formal education activity in the last 12 months was 44.2%. The national average is below the European average (46.6%), placing Portugal as the 18th country in the EU-27 with the highest participation of the adult population in formal and/or non-formal education and training activities.

In Portugal, and in contrast to the majority of EU-27 countries, in 2022 the participation of men (45.5%) in formal and/or non-formal education activities was higher than that of women (43.0%), placing it among the six countries where the participation rate of women was lower than that of men (Italy, Cyprus, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary). In all the EU-27 countries, participation in formal and/or non-formal education activities increases with the level of education, and in the case of Portugal it is more than double among the population with tertiary education compared to the population who have completed at most lower secondary education (68.3% and 27.3%, respectively). In the various EU-27 countries, participation in formal and/or non-formal education activities was higher among the employed population. In Portugal, 50.6% of the employed population participated in formal and/or non-formal education activities, while only 29.2% of the unemployed population and 17.8% of the inactive population participated in this type of activities.

In all 27 EU countries, the majority of activities carried out in 2022 by the adult population aged 25 to 64 were non-formal education activities. In Portugal, 41.9% of the population aged 25 to 64 carried out non-formal education activities in the last 12 months (44.0% for the EU-27), and 38.5% of these activities were job-related (38.1% for the EU-27). Most of the job-related non-formal education activities were sponsored by the employer, with Portugal (34.1%) standing slightly above the EU-27 average (33.7%).