Luxembourg, 16/06/2003 (Agence Europe) - According to a report entitled "Education in Europe: Key Statistics 2000/01", just published by Eurostat, 71% of 18-year-olds living in the EU are still in education. For the period in question (2000-2001), the highest proportions of young people remaining in education were observed in Sweden (95%), Finland (89%), and Belgium (85%); the lowest in the United Kingdom (55%) and Portugal (66%). For the accession countries, the percentages ranged between 32% in Cyprus, where most tertiary students study abroad, and 86% in the Czech Republic. The report indicates, amongst other things, that in the EU and the accession countries, more women than men remain in education at the age of 18 (74% compared with 69% in the EU), with the exception of Austria and Malta, and there are more female than male teachers in upper secondary education, except in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Malta. Lastly, the Statistical Office of the EU points out that one of the structural indicators for innovation and research being monitored as part of the Lisbon process concerns the proportion of mathematics, science and technology graduates in the population aged between 20 and 29 years. In 2000/2001, this indicator was highest in Ireland (23.2 graduates per 1,000 people aged 20-29), France (19.7‰), the United Kingdom (19.5‰) and Finland (16.0‰). Four other Member States, Belgium, Denmark, Spain and Sweden, were below the 10‰ mark. Of the accession countries, only Lithuania registered a percentage above this (13.1‰).