Compare literacy, school enrollment, completion, education spending, pupil-teacher ratios, and other education indicators around the world.
How to use the Education Explorer
Choose an education indicator from the menu and the map colors countries by their latest value. Click a country, or search for it, to see a full education profile, from literacy to university enrollment and school spending.
What the indicators mean
- Adult literacy – the share of people aged 15 and older who can read and write a short, simple statement about everyday life.
- Primary, secondary, and tertiary enrollment (gross) – the number of students enrolled at each level, compared with the population of the official age for that level. Tertiary means universities, colleges, and other higher education.
- Primary completion rate – the number of new students in the final grade of primary school, compared with the population at the age to be in that grade.
- Education spending (% of GDP) – government spending on education compared with the size of the economy.
- Primary pupil-teacher ratio – the average number of students for each teacher in primary schools.
- Out-of-school children – the share of primary-school-age children who are not enrolled in school.
Why enrollment can be over 100%
“Gross” enrollment counts all students at a level, whatever their age. If many students repeat a grade, start school late, or return to study as adults, the total can be larger than the official-age population. South Korea’s tertiary enrollment, for example, is about 112%, one of the highest in the world, partly because many adults also study. A gross rate over 100% doesn’t mean every young person is enrolled.
What the latest data shows
- Higher education has expanded rapidly. Tertiary enrollment is about 77% in China and Germany, 79% in the United States, 70% in Brazil, and about 34% in India.
- Adult literacy is close to universal in many countries, but was about 78% in India and 70% in Nigeria in the latest surveys.
- Pupil-teacher ratios range from fewer than 15 students per teacher in many wealthy countries to more than 40 in some low-income countries.
Reading education data carefully
- Being in school is not the same as learning. Enrollment shows who attends, not how much they learn. International tests such as PISA measure learning separately.
- Literacy data is updated rarely in countries where almost everyone can read, so some values are many years old.
- Spending figures show public money only. In some countries, families spend a lot on private tutoring. South Korea’s after-school academies, or hagwon, are a well-known example.
Where the data comes from
All figures come from the World Bank’s World Development Indicators, based mainly on the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, which collects education data from governments around the world. Each value shows the most recent year available.
Explore more
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- Population Explorer – how many children each country has