Cyprus recorded a preschool education participation rate of 89.2 per cent in 2024 among children aged three to the start of compulsory primary education, according to figures published by Eurostat on Thursday.

The rate was below the EU average of 94.4 per cent and the European target of 96 per cent participation by 2030.

According to Eurostat, almost half of the EU regions for which data were available had already reached the 96 per cent target.

Of the 198 Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) 2 regions with available data, 99 had achieved or exceeded the target.

These regions were mainly concentrated in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Spain, France, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and Sweden, where more than half of the regions had reached the target. Luxembourg had also achieved the 96 per cent participation rate.

Eurostat identified 20 EU regions where virtually all children aged three to the start of compulsory primary education participated in preschool education.

Almost half of these were in France, which accounted for nine regions, while another five were in Belgium.

Five capital or metropolitan regions also recorded full participation of 100 per cent: the Brussels-Capital Region in Belgium, Île-de-France in France, Zagreb in Croatia, Budapest in Hungary and the Warsaw metropolitan area in Poland.

A participation rate of 100 per cent was also recorded in Portugal’s Centro region and in the German regions of Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.