Since 2015, 109 million more children and youth have entered school, with completion rates rising for all levels. Global completion rates in 2024 reached 88, 78 and 60 per cent for primary, lower secondary and upper secondary education, respectively—up from 85, 74 and 53 per cent in 2015, respectively. Girls now exceed boys by 2-3 percentage points at all levels.

However, progress has decelerated. Upper secondary completion rate slowed from 1.3 percentage points annually (2010–2015) to 0.8 percentage points (2015–2024). Meanwhile, the out-of-school population increased by 3 per cent since 2015, leaving 272 million children and youth still out of school worldwide. Disparities remain stark: 36 per cent of school-aged children and youth in low-income countries are out of school, compared to only 3 per cent in high-income countries, and over half of them live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Learning quality remains a major concern. Globally, the minimum proficiency of primary students stands at just 58 per cent in reading and 44 per cent in mathematics in 2019. Among 81 upper-middle- and high-income countries with data, the percentage of students achieving minimum proficiency at the end of lower secondary education declined between 2018 and 2022 – by 15 percentage points in mathematics and by 10 percentage points in reading.

Progress in early childhood education is limited and uneven across regions

Early childhood education is crucial for cognitive and social development. However, global participation in early childhood education has stagnated at around 50 per cent since 2015, with only 40 per cent of children aged 3–5 enrolled in pre-primary education. Sub-Saharan Africa (27 per cent) and Northern Africa and Western Asia (30 per cent) lag significantly behind the global average.

Data from 84 countries (2015–2024) reveal that two thirds of children aged 24–59 months are developmentally on track, with no gender differences. However, regional disparities are stark: sub-Saharan Africa has only 54 per cent on track while Central Asia and South-Eastern Asia have 83 per cent on track.

Early childhood education participation has shown mixed progress. While enrolment for children under age 3 has increased notably in Africa over the past decade, participation in organized learning one year before primary school has remained stagnant globally, at around 75 per cent since 2015. Sub-Saharan Africa (48.6 per cent) and Northern Africa and Western Asia (51.4 per cent) continue to lag behind. Only about one third of countries have made pre-primary education compulsory, and only half provide legal provisions for at least one year of free pre-primary education. Without such legal guarantees, pre-primary education often remains financially inaccessible to low-income families, especially in regions dominated by private education.

Youth dominate educational participation while adult engagement remains low

Organized learning encompasses both formal education and non-formal programmes, such as adult literacy and work-based training. In 2024, globally, one in six individuals aged 15–64 had recently participated in education or training programmes; however, participation was mainly among youth. Worldwide over half of the young people aged 15–24 engaged in learning activities, with rates ranging from 45 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa to 64 per cent in Europe and Northern America. In contrast, participation drops sharply among older adults; for ages 25–54 and 55–64 years, only 3 and 1 per cent of adults, respectively, engaged in learning.

Youth participation has risen by over 10 percentage points since 2000, with Central and Southern Asia nearly doubling its rate. However, progress has slowed since 2015, with less than three percentage points gained globally. Adult participation rates have remained stagnant since 2000. Among youth, females tend to have lower participation rates than males, with a two-percentage-point disparity persisting at the global level.