In the paper an analysis was performed to identify the relationship between the growth rate of GDP and the main elements of the educational systems, in the context of sustainable economic development of the group of 12 countries that recently joined the EU. Considering the assembly of EU’s NMS for the period 1997-2011, a sufficiently strong connection was found (about 53%) between the growth rates of GDP and educational factors such as: the share of “Persons with lower secondary education attainment” and “Employment rate of persons with tertiary education” , with the addition of the indicator “Growth rate of labour productivity” . This last indicator expresses the economic performance of the labour force that largely depends on their skills and capabilities achieved through education.