Secondary Student-Teacher Ratio by Country 2026: Statistics & Charts
Secondary pupil-teacher ratio values show the average number of pupils per teacher in secondary education. The 2026 label refers to the publication year; country values use the latest reported source year available in the World Bank WDI / UNESCO UIS series.
Secondary Ratio Statistics
Snapshot metrics are calculated from the embedded country table and should be read as reported source values, not 2026 measurements.
Malawi, 2018
Lebanon, 2016
World Bank WDI, 2018
Text-verifiable reported values
Highest Reported Secondary Ratios
Higher values mean more pupils per teacher on average. They do not measure class size directly.
Countries With the Highest Reported Secondary Pupil-Teacher Ratios
Latest reported source value in pupils per teacher
The chart uses the highest values from the embedded table. Source years differ because countries report UIS/WDI education data on different schedules.
Chart analysis
- Malawi has the highest embedded value at 72.31 pupils per teacher in 2018.
- Ethiopia is the second-highest row at 40.35, but its latest verified source year is 2012.
- The top five values range from 28.25 to 72.31 pupils per teacher.
- Several high-ratio rows are from Sub-Saharan Africa, but the table also includes South Asia, East Asia and Pacific, and Latin America.
- Source-year variation limits direct same-year ranking across countries.
Secondary Pupil-Teacher Ratio Country Table
Values are latest reported source values available from text-verifiable WDI/UIS-linked pages. The official WDI series has wider portal coverage than the embedded extract.
| Rank | Country / Economy | Region | Pupils per teacher | Source year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malawi | Sub-Saharan Africa | 72.31 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 2 | Ethiopia | Sub-Saharan Africa | 40.35 | 2012 | WDI / UIS |
| 3 | Afghanistan | South Asia | 33.50 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 4 | Nicaragua | Latin America & Caribbean | 30.83 | 2010 | WDI / UIS |
| 5 | Rwanda | Sub-Saharan Africa | 28.25 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 6 | Myanmar | East Asia & Pacific | 27.25 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 7 | Burundi | Sub-Saharan Africa | 26.60 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 8 | Burkina Faso | Sub-Saharan Africa | 23.12 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 9 | Pakistan | South Asia | 20.40 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 10 | Kiribati | East Asia & Pacific | 17.44 | 2008 | WDI / UIS |
| 11 | Palestine | Middle East & North Africa | 17.33 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 12 | Jamaica | Latin America & Caribbean | 16.70 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 13 | Ghana | Sub-Saharan Africa | 15.64 | 2017 | WDI / UIS |
| 14 | Indonesia | East Asia & Pacific | 15.21 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 15 | Gibraltar | Europe & Central Asia | 15.00 | 2019 | WDI / UIS |
| 16 | China | East Asia & Pacific | 13.26 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 17 | Grenada | Latin America & Caribbean | 12.81 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 18 | Saint Lucia | Latin America & Caribbean | 11.79 | 2016 | WDI / UIS |
| 19 | Japan | East Asia & Pacific | 11.12 | 2017 | WDI / UIS |
| 20 | Cayman Islands | Latin America & Caribbean | 10.97 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 21 | Bhutan | South Asia | 10.81 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 22 | Seychelles | Sub-Saharan Africa | 10.78 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 23 | North Macedonia | Europe & Central Asia | 9.43 | 2015 | WDI / UIS |
| 24 | Antigua and Barbuda | Latin America & Caribbean | 9.30 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 25 | Greece | Europe & Central Asia | 9.00 | 2017 | WDI / UIS |
| 26 | Tuvalu | East Asia & Pacific | 8.64 | 2018 | WDI / UIS |
| 27 | Lebanon | Middle East & North Africa | 7.67 | 2016 | WDI / UIS |
Table analysis
- The embedded table ranges from 7.67 pupils per teacher in Lebanon to 72.31 in Malawi.
- The spread between the highest and lowest embedded values is 64.64 pupils per teacher.
- Most rows use 2018 source values, but older reported values remain visible for countries such as Kiribati, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, and North Macedonia.
- Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for several of the highest embedded ratios, including Malawi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Burkina Faso, and Ghana.
- Small island economies appear across the lower and middle parts of the table, including Tuvalu, Antigua and Barbuda, Seychelles, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, and Kiribati.
- The ranking is ordered by reported pupil-teacher ratio only; it is not a ranking of education quality.
- Class size and pupil-teacher ratio are different measures. One teacher can serve multiple classes, and staffing rules vary by country.
Historical Range Snapshot
The table uses countries where a text-accessible WDI-linked historical range exposed latest, previous, minimum, and maximum values.
Latest Value Compared With Historical Maximum
Selected countries with available historical range text
The comparison shows reported historical ranges, not a same-year comparison across countries.
Trend analysis
- North Macedonia has the largest gap between the reported maximum and latest value in this subset: 29.32 to 9.43.
- Ethiopia remains close to its reported historical maximum: 40.35 latest versus 47.41 maximum.
- Ghana latest value equals the reported minimum in its range, at 15.64 in 2017.
- Historical ranges differ by country, so the chart should not be read as a synchronized time series.
| Country | Reported range | Latest | Previous | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethiopia | 1971-2012 | 40.35 | 40.33 | 26.93 | 47.41 |
| Nicaragua | 1970-2010 | 30.83 | 28.59 | 23.64 | 36.77 |
| Ghana | 1974-2017 | 15.64 | 16.98 | 15.64 | 24.48 |
| Kiribati | 1970-2008 | 17.44 | 17.66 | 10.84 | 22.73 |
| North Macedonia | 1998-2015 | 9.43 | 9.56 | 9.43 | 29.32 |
| Lebanon | 1981-2016 | 7.67 | 7.74 | 7.39 | 11.49 |
Table analysis
- Ethiopia has the highest latest value in the historical subset at 40.35.
- Lebanon has the lowest latest value in the historical subset at 7.67.
- North Macedonia shows the largest decline from reported maximum to latest value in the subset.
- The historical table uses reported ranges that end in different years.
Source-Year Distribution
Country education indicators often have uneven reporting calendars. This chart counts embedded rows by latest source year.
Embedded Rows by Latest Source Year
Number of country rows in each latest reported year
Most embedded rows use 2018 values, while several countries have older latest reported years.
Source-year analysis
- 2018 is the dominant latest source year in the embedded country table.
- Older latest years appear for countries where the WDI/UIS series has not exposed a newer text-verifiable value in the selected extract.
- Year differences are part of the indicator coverage and should remain visible in any comparison.
Interpretation Notes
The ratio is useful for staffing comparisons, but it has clear limits.
Ratio Definition
The indicator reports the average number of pupils per teacher in secondary education. It is a staffing ratio, not a direct classroom headcount.
Source-Year Variation
Country values use the latest reported source year available in the source series. A country with a 2018 value is not directly same-year comparable with a country whose latest row is 2010.
Ranking Scope
The rank order is based only on the embedded reported values. Lower values should not be automatically interpreted as better education quality.
Coverage Limit
The official WDI/UIS indicator is broader than the embedded extract. The table prioritizes rows whose values were text-verifiable from WDI/UIS-linked pages.
Source and Methodology
Main indicator source
Indicator definition
Underlying data producer
Data release context
Method: values are shown as pupils per teacher and rounded to two decimals when source text includes more precision. Rank order is descending by reported ratio. The embedded extract uses country and economy values that were text-verifiable from WDI/UIS-linked pages and high-visibility WDI republications where the World Bank page text did not expose row values. Aggregates such as World and Euro area are not mixed into the country ranking table.
The 2026 label is a publication label. The ratio is a secondary education staffing indicator from WDI/UIS, not a class-size measure or a quality score. Source years vary by country, so comparisons should keep the year column visible.