Out-of-School Children by Country 2026: Statistics & Charts
Country-level 2024 WDI data for primary-school-age children not enrolled in primary or secondary school, with global 2024 UNESCO UIS context for primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary school-age groups.
Executive Snapshot
Values are rounded source-display counts. The country table uses a single reference year to avoid mixing older and newer observations.
Largest Reported Primary-Age Out-of-School Counts
Top 20 countries and economies by rounded 2024 WDI value, shown in millions of primary-school-age children.
The chart is a visual summary of the largest 2024 reported counts; the searchable table carries the country-level data used for ranking.
Chart analysis
- Pakistan has the largest reported 2024 value at 5.43 million.
- The first three entries, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Tanzania, account for 11.68 million children in the rounded table values.
- The top 10 entries sum to 20.19 million, or about 77.8% of the 82-economy reported total.
- Absolute counts reflect both exclusion from school and the size of the primary-school-age population.
Full 2024 Country Table
Ranking uses the WDI count indicator for primary-school-age children not enrolled in primary or secondary school.
| Rank | Country or economy | Children out of school | YoY change | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pakistan | 5.43 million | -35.22% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 2 | Ethiopia | 4.24 million | -4.23% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 3 | Tanzania | 2.01 million | +19.58% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 4 | Niger | 1.88 million | +5.45% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 5 | Philippines | 1.62 million | +9.88% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 6 | Burkina Faso | 1.36 million | -17.25% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 7 | South Sudan | 1.20 million | not reported | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 8 | Bangladesh | 918.58K | -15.35% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 9 | Chad | 855.04K | -4.34% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 10 | Senegal | 675.62K | +2.57% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 11 | Cote d’Ivoire | 650.80K | -1.99% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 12 | Syria | 581.85K | -21.92% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 13 | Egypt | 559.71K | -19.01% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 14 | Malaysia | 404.72K | +30.98% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 15 | Honduras | 346.45K | +11.93% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 16 | Zimbabwe | 332.31K | +14.82% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 17 | Indonesia | 310.42K | +46.43% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 18 | Mauritania | 291.10K | not reported | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 19 | Guatemala | 201.34K | +1.71% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 20 | Cameroon | 173.92K | +4.07% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 21 | Lebanon | 146.90K | -14.61% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 22 | Vietnam | 144.56K | -1.66% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 23 | Zambia | 136.54K | not reported | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 24 | Madagascar | 135.62K | +4.73% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 25 | Lesotho | 124.17K | +5.85% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 26 | India | 119.75K | -78.18% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 27 | Paraguay | 105.86K | +8.82% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 28 | Kazakhstan | 102.77K | +10.25% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 29 | Gambia | 82.68K | +1.54% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 30 | Lao PDR | 81.51K | +10.25% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 31 | Algeria | 78.64K | +72.53% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 32 | Cambodia | 76.74K | -52.01% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 33 | Nepal | 57.45K | +0.38% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 34 | El Salvador | 57.34K | -40.22% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 35 | Dominican Republic | 56.33K | -1.18% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 36 | Solomon Islands | 36.44K | -5.86% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 37 | Mongolia | 35.21K | +10.79% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 38 | Cuba | 33.33K | +35.65% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 39 | Turkmenistan | 28.41K | +64.31% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 40 | Thailand | 24.59K | -66.01% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 41 | Puerto Rico | 21.79K | -1.75% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 42 | Comoros | 21.74K | not reported | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 43 | Jordan | 21.35K | -30.54% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 44 | Georgia | 21.24K | +29.15% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 45 | Belarus | 20.60K | -20.37% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 46 | Rwanda | 19.50K | +113.54% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 47 | Kyrgyz Republic | 18.75K | not reported | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 48 | Saudi Arabia | 17.46K | not reported | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 49 | Uzbekistan | 15.82K | -87.91% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 50 | Togo | 9.26K | -15.36% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 51 | Bhutan | 8.39K | -14.48% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 52 | Bahrain | 5.99K | -28.65% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 53 | Belize | 4.95K | -6.93% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 54 | Macao SAR | 4.61K | -25.93% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 55 | Bahamas | 4.58K | -46.68% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 56 | Hong Kong SAR | 4.49K | -5.56% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 57 | Namibia | 4.23K | +11.68% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 58 | Barbados | 3.42K | +20.76% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 59 | Micronesia | 3.30K | -4.21% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 60 | Fiji | 2.47K | not reported | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 61 | Armenia | 1.71K | -69.40% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 62 | Kiribati | 1.60K | +3.17% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 63 | Vanuatu | 1.26K | -10.38% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 64 | British Virgin Islands | 1.08K | +144.90% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 65 | St. Lucia | 1.03K | +239.80% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 66 | Seychelles | 699 | +112.46% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 67 | Samoa | 626 | -49.76% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 68 | Mauritius | 618.43 | -55.79% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 69 | Albania | 617 | -96.38% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 70 | Moldova | 587.99 | -21.55% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 71 | Grenada | 534.64 | not reported | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 72 | Maldives | 417.77 | -86.48% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 73 | Cayman Islands | 234 | +3783.53% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 74 | Azerbaijan | 152 | -98.39% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 75 | Andorra | 102 | +1175.00% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 76 | San Marino | 91 | -12.50% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 77 | Marshall Islands | 77.84 | +345.34% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 78 | Nauru | 55.32 | +591.54% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 79 | Gibraltar | 42.77 | -31.02% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 80 | United Arab Emirates | 21.01 | -97.71% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 81 | Tuvalu | 7.07 | +49.08% | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
| 82 | Turks and Caicos Islands | 3.92 | not reported | 2024 | WDI / UIS |
Table analysis
- The table covers 82 countries and economies with 2024 reported values.
- Pakistan and Ethiopia are the only two entries above 4 million in the rounded 2024 table.
- 7 countries report at least 1 million primary-age children out of school.
- 21 entries sit between 100,000 and 999,999 children.
- 17 entries report fewer than 1,000 children; several are small island economies or small high-income economies.
- The reported 2024 table total is 25.95 million, lower than the UNESCO global primary-age total because many countries do not have a 2024 country value in this same-year extraction.
- Year-on-year change is not available for every entry; “not reported” means the displayed extraction did not provide a comparable prior-year change.
Global Out-of-School Population by Education Age Group
UNESCO 2024 global estimates for children and youth out of school by age group.
The global age-group chart uses UNESCO’s 2024 estimate and is not a sum of the 82-country same-year table.
Chart analysis
- UNESCO reports 273 million children and youth out of school globally in 2024.
- Upper secondary age accounts for the largest count at 130 million.
- Primary school age accounts for 79 million, compared with 64 million at lower secondary age.
Reported Count Distribution
Bands are calculated from the rounded 2024 country table values.
Reading the Indicator
The count indicator measures scale. The rate indicator is better for comparing exclusion intensity across countries with different population sizes.
Count Versus Rate
Large countries can report high counts even when the out-of-school rate is moderate. Rate tables should be used for population-adjusted comparison.
Reference Year
The table fixes the reference year at 2024. Countries with older latest values in WDI are not mixed into the ranking.
Enrollment Basis
The indicator is based on enrollment status, not daily attendance. A child registered in school but not attending regularly may not be counted as out of school.
School-Age Definition
Primary school age follows each country’s official education structure, so age ranges are not identical across countries.
Source and Methodology
Countries are ranked descending by the 2024 value of SE.PRM.UNER. Values shown with K or million notation are rounded from the source display; data-sort values use the same rounded magnitude for table sorting. “not reported” in the YoY column means no comparable displayed prior-year change was available in the extracted ranking. The global 273 million figure covers children and youth across primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary ages and is not added to the country table total.
This ranking is based on an absolute count, not an education quality score or a rate of exclusion. It should not be read as a full education-system ranking. Country comparability is affected by official school-age definitions, enrollment reporting dates, population estimates, and source-year coverage.