Out-of-School Children by Country 2026

The latest global estimate places 273 million children, adolescents, and youth out of school in 2024. The figure appears in UNESCO’s 2026 Global Education Monitoring reporting and covers the official age groups for primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary education. It is therefore a 2024 reference-year estimate published in the 2026 reporting cycle, not a claim that 273 million were counted in calendar year 2026. [UNESCO GEM]

Of the global total, 79 million were of primary-school age, 64 million of lower-secondary age, and 130 million of upper-secondary age. Upper-secondary-age youth account for about 48% of the total. UNESCO also estimates 140 million boys and 133 million girls were out of school. [UNESCO]

Global Out-of-School Population by Education Level

The three education levels do not contribute equally to the global total. Upper-secondary-age youth form the largest group, with 130 million out of school, compared with 79 million primary-age children and 64 million lower-secondary-age adolescents. The comparison matters because a single global total can hide where exclusion is concentrated across the school-age span. [UNESCO]

Out-of-School Children by Country

Country comparisons require a narrower definition than the 273 million global figure. The table below uses the official indicator “Children out of school, primary” from the World Bank Gender Data Portal, whose source is the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. It reports the number of children of official primary-school age who are outside school. The portal identifies its source publication as the February 2026 UIS data release. [World Bank / UIS]

The country values are not all from 2026. Each row keeps its own reference year because national observations arrive on different schedules. A value from 2023 or 2024 must remain labeled as such even when it appears in a database released in 2026. Where the current source reports no usable total, the table says Data not available rather than filling the gap. The UIS Data Browser itself identifies February 2026 as its latest education release. [UNESCO UIS]

Data source for every row — [World Bank / UIS]. Values are the latest total observations surfaced in the current UIS-backed World Bank series; reference years vary. Small decimal estimates shown by the source are rounded to the nearest child in this table.

Why Country Counts and Country Rates Answer Different Questions

An out-of-school count tells how many people in an official school-age group are outside education. An out-of-school rate expresses that number as a share of the corresponding official-age population. UNESCO explicitly reports the indicator in both forms. [UNESCO]

A large country can record a high number even when its rate is lower than that of a much smaller country. The reverse is also possible: a small population can have a high out-of-school rate but a modest absolute count. Number and rate should therefore remain separate measures, not two versions of the same ranking.

Largest Recent Primary-Age Counts in the Current Country Series

Among country observations in the current UIS-backed primary-age series with reference years from 2023 through 2025, several national counts exceed one million. The chart uses exact totals shown by the source and keeps the observation year visible in the fallback table. Population size strongly affects these counts, so they should not be interpreted as out-of-school rates. [World Bank / UIS]

The Global Out-of-School Rate Has Stalled

The long-run pattern differs from the steady expansion in total enrollment. UNESCO reports that the out-of-school population fell by 33% between 2000 and 2015, then rose by 3% by 2024. For the combined primary- and secondary-school-age population, the global out-of-school rate dropped from 27% in 2000 to 17% in 2015 and has since remained around that level. [UNESCO GEM]

Where the Global Out-of-School Population Is Concentrated

Geographic concentration is strong. UNESCO estimates that three quarters of all out-of-school children, adolescents, and youth are in sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia. This is a share of the worldwide total across primary and secondary school-age groups, not a claim that every country in either region has the same rate. [UNESCO GEM]

Income-group differences are also wide. In the 2026 GEM monitoring data, the out-of-school rate is about 36% in low-income countries and 3% in high-income countries. The low-income-country out-of-school population has grown by 29% since 2015, while the corresponding population has remained broadly flat in other income groups. [UNESCO GEM]

Boys and Girls in the Global Estimate

The 2024 modeled total consists of 140 million boys and 133 million girls out of school. The difference is about seven million globally. A global sex total should not be transferred directly to individual countries, because the size and direction of sex differences vary across national education systems and age groups. [UNESCO GEM]

What “Out of School” Means in Education Statistics

Out-of-school status is tied to an official age range for a defined education level. SDG indicator 4.1.4 covers the out-of-school rate one year before primary education and at primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary levels. [UNESCO UIS]

The term is not identical to dropout. Dropout describes an education pathway in which a learner leaves before completing a stage. Out-of-school status is a population measure: it asks whether a person in the relevant official-age group is participating in education. A child who has never entered school can therefore be out of school without being a dropout. Likewise, a child enrolled above or below the level normally associated with that age may still count as being in education under the indicator’s participation logic.

Official School Ages Matter

Primary and secondary age ranges are not defined by one universal birthday rule. National education systems set official entry ages and the expected duration of each level. Cross-country statistics align each population with those official ranges. That is why comparing raw ages without the education-level definition can produce a different result from the UIS indicator.

Enrollment and Attendance Are Different Data Sources

Administrative systems usually measure enrollment by age and sex, while household surveys can measure whether children and young people are attending. Neither source is perfect on its own. Administrative counts may have coverage gaps or depend on a separate population denominator; household surveys arrive less often and use sampling. UNESCO’s current model brings information from multiple sources together to create more coherent national, regional, and global series. [UNESCO]

How the 2026 Estimates Are Produced

The current out-of-school estimates use a statistical modeling approach developed by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the GEM Report team. UNESCO states that the newer model raised the share of countries represented in out-of-school estimates from 62% to 98%. [UNESCO]

• Administrative enrollment records provide student counts by age and sex where national reporting systems supply them.
• Household surveys provide attendance evidence that can capture participation from another angle.
• Population estimates supply the denominator needed to calculate rates for official school-age groups.
• Statistical modeling reconciles sources and fills time-series gaps without treating every missing national observation as a directly observed value.

The distinction between observed and modeled data matters. The large global figures in the 2026 GEM Report are modeled estimates intended to provide coherent coverage. The country table above is a separate UIS-backed indicator series surfaced by the World Bank, and its individual reference years remain visible. Mixing these two products without labeling them would make the data look more synchronized than they are.

Why the Page Says 2026 When the Global Estimate Is for 2024

International education statistics usually carry a reporting lag. Ministries and statistical agencies first collect enrollment or survey data; population series and metadata then need alignment; international databases validate and publish the resulting observations; modeled series may be recalculated after new information arrives. The 2026 GEM Report therefore reports 273 million for 2024. [UNESCO GEM]

The country table shows the same timing issue in a more visible form. Many totals refer to 2024, some to 2025, and others to earlier years. A release date and a reference year answer different questions. “2026 data release” does not mean “2026 observation.”

Recent Data Coverage and Remaining Gaps

Out-of-school rate data have unusually broad country coverage compared with many other education indicators. UNESCO’s 2026 SDG monitoring page reports that indicator 4.1.4 has recent data for nearly 95% of countries. [UNESCO GEM] The modeled VIEW series reports even broader representation after combining available sources. These two percentages describe different aspects of coverage, so they should not be treated as interchangeable.

Some individual country rows still lack a current total in the UIS-backed primary-age series. Others rely on older reference years. That does not justify estimating a value from neighboring countries, a later enrollment rate, or a regional average. Missing remains missing until a supported observation or modeled estimate is available for the exact indicator.

Enrollment Growth and Out-of-School Numbers Can Move Differently

Global enrollment has expanded even while the recent out-of-school trend has flattened. UNESCO reports 1.4 billion students enrolled in primary and secondary education in 2024, 327 million more than in 2000. Over the same long period, the out-of-school population first fell sharply and later stopped declining. [UNESCO GEM]

Completion indicators also tell a different story from out-of-school status. Between 2000 and 2024, global completion rose from 77% to 88% in primary, from 60% to 78% in lower secondary, and from 37% to 61% in upper secondary. [UNESCO GEM] A system can therefore improve progression and completion among enrolled learners without producing the same pace of decline in the total population outside school.

Long-Term Country Progress Is Uneven but Measurable

The global plateau does not mean every country followed the same path. The 2026 GEM Report identifies countries that reduced out-of-school rates by at least 80% since 2000: Madagascar and Togo for primary-age children, Morocco and Viet Nam for lower-secondary-age adolescents, and Georgia and Türkiye for upper-secondary-age youth. [UNESCO GEM]

These examples also show why the education level must remain attached to every comparison. A country’s primary-age trend does not automatically describe its upper-secondary trend. The age group, level, indicator form, and reference year all belong to the statistic.

The 2030 Benchmark

National SDG 4 benchmark targets provide a forward-looking comparison with the present estimates. UNESCO reports that, based on countries’ own national benchmark targets, 84 million children could still be out of school in 2030. [UNESCO GEM] This is a benchmark-based outlook rather than a current headcount, so it should remain separate from the 273 million estimate for 2024.

The data distinction is simple but essential: 273 million describes the modeled global out-of-school population for 2024; country rows carry their own observation years; and 84 million belongs to a 2030 benchmark outlook. Keeping those time references visible makes country comparisons more accurate and prevents a publication year from being mistaken for a measurement year.

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