UNESCO statistics institute puts global upper secondary completion at 62 per cent in its new education data release

13 November 2026

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics has published its November 2026 education data release. It adds more than 1.39 million data points and updates 33 global and thematic indicators for Sustainable Development Goal 4, taking the UIS global education database to 9.7 million data points covering 240 countries and territories. The global upper secondary completion rate has risen from 53 per cent in 2015 to 62 per cent in 2025, but stands at 21 per cent in low-income economies against 90 per cent in high-income economies. Completion data comparing learners with and without disabilities now covers 83 countries and territories, up from 26 earlier in the year, and in most of them learners with disabilities are less likely to finish school, with the gap widening from primary to upper secondary. On bullying, in 37 of 85 education systems at least half of 15-year-old students reported being bullied in the previous twelve months, with an average of 48 per cent across all 85 systems. The release also publishes data for the first time on the revised SDG indicator 4.c.1, the share of teachers with at least a bachelor's degree or equivalent, estimated at 73 per cent of primary teachers worldwide.