50 Most Educated Countries in the World

Published on May 22, 2024 at 7:33 am by Zahaab Rehman in Business, Economy, News

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In this article, we take a look at the 50 most educated countries in the world and also cover some of the top trends in higher education across the globe.

Education Changes Lives

Education is regarded with fundamental importance because, around the globe, an investment in academics generates massive returns for the individual and the wider society. According to data from the World Bank, an individual generates a 10% increase in annual earnings with each year of education. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE), a multi-stakeholder partnership aimed at funding education in developing countries, also shares critical statistics on the importance of education. According to GPE, an additional year of schooling can increase women’s earnings by as much as 20%. Educated women also prove to be beneficial for their kids because children whose mothers can read are 50% more likely to live past the age of five. Furthermore, the GPE also reports that with secondary education, almost 420 million people can be lifted out of poverty.

Learning Loss During COVID-19

The Education Finance Watch (EFW) is an annual report on trends and issues in worldwide education financing. The report is produced in collaboration by the World Bank, the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, and the Global Education Monitoring Report. According to EFW 2023, the world suffered a major learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly due to school closures and disrupted educational activities. Currently, the global learning loss is equivalent to 0.7 years, which could reduce the future earnings of students by 6.5% annually. This reduction in earnings could also lead to an overall contraction of national income growth, approximately by 2.2% during each working year of the pandemic-hit generation. On average, the working years amount to 45 years in total.

Low and middle-income countries were hit harder by this learning loss and subsequent lack of earnings, as compared to high-income countries. Most of these countries already had a low learning base before the pandemic. In many middle-income countries, the learning loss amounted to one full year, which could potentially contract annual future earnings by 9%. Many of these countries also tend to have a high percentage of youth not in education, employment, or training (NEET). On the other hand, the average learning loss in high-income countries was only 0.4 years.

Fixing this issue requires an increased investment in human capital and education. However, the EFW reports that education aid fell by 7% from 2020 to 2021, due to an overall decrease in aid budgets. This aid is significant for low-income countries, where Official Development Assistance (ODA) for education contributes to 13% of total education expenditure. Thus, a decrease in this money can further inhibit education in these countries. You can also take a look at the 25 countries that receive the most foreign aid per capita.

The Insulating Effect of Higher Education

According to EFW 2023, economic returns for education are highest at the tertiary level. Moreover, the earnings of tertiary-educated individuals are protected in times of crisis, due to their higher skillsets. On the other hand, those with secondary education or less are much more vulnerable to economic shocks. This is referred to as the ‘insulating effect’ of higher education, and it was visible during the financial crisis of the 1990s, the recession of the late 2000s, and the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, returns to higher education grew from 14.1% to 15%. After the pandemic, the returns persisted at a rate of 14.7%, higher than the pre-pandemic levels. On the other hand, the average returns for an additional year of schooling decreased from 8.9% to 8.8% during the pandemic. The downward trend has continued even after the pandemic, with the current returns being 8.5%.

Fiscal Spending Benchmarks for Education

Across the world, government resources constitute one of the main expenditure sources for education. Education is also a public good essential to human capital, which is why government spending needs to focus on this element. Thus, UNESCO and partner agencies have established international benchmarks for government spending on education, set out in Education 2030: Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action.

Each country’s government must spend 4-6% of their GDP and 15-20% of their total government spending on education. It is pertinent to note that EFW 2023 analyzed 27 countries whose data was available for 2021, and found no definite correlation between public spending on education and the national income level. However, because education still contributes to overall economic benefits, government spending is required to bring about those results.

Government spending cannot be discredited because of a lack of direct correlation with national income, it does offer improved results in other domains. EFW 2023 reported that learning outcomes were lowest in countries spending the least amount of money per student. In low-income countries, which often tend to spend less on education per capita, children receive 7.6 years of schooling on average, but only 4.3 years of actual learning. The average government expenditure on education in a low-income country is $51.8 per student per year. This is one of the reasons why many of these countries have education problems.

EFW reports that the best approach to maximizing learning gains is by increasing spending in combination with implementing strategies to increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of education. Examples of these include structured pedagogy, grouping children by learning levels rather than age or grade, and providing information to parents regarding the returns of education. These approaches were found to increase the future earnings of students by 2-5%.

In a nutshell, there’s no doubt that more education offers the prospect of several benefits for the individual as well as for the wider society. In this context, let’s look at the 50 most educated countries in the world, which boast several education policy strategies that low-income countries can consider as an example.

50 Most Educated Countries in the World

Our Methodology

In order to compile this list of the 50 most educated countries, we consulted the Insider Monkey Global Education Index. Our index relies on the number of Top 1,000 QS-ranked universities in each country, the average rank of all ranked universities, and the per capita government spending on education. To view our index methodology which shows all data sources and calculations, you can check out the Insider Monkey Global Education Index. Note that a high index value represents a country with better education. The countries are arranged in ascending order of their index values.

50 Most Educated Countries in the World

50. Egypt

Universities in Top 1,000 QS Ranking (2024): 4

Average Rank of Universities (2024): 602

Per Capita Spending on Education (2023 Estimates): $94

Insider Monkey Score (2024): 0.02832

Egypt ranks 50th on our list of the 50 most educated countries in the world, with an index score of 0.02832.

49. Norway

Universities in Top 1,000 QS Ranking (2024): 4

Average Rank of Universities (2024): 316.75

Per Capita Spending on Education (2023 Estimates): $5,005

Insider Monkey Score (2024): 0.02850

Norway has four universities in the top 1,000 ranks of the QS university ranking. It has a per capita education spending of around $5,005.

48. Singapore

Universities in Top 1,000 QS Ranking (2024): 4

Average Rank of Universities (2024): 252

Per Capita Spending on Education (2023 Estimates): $2,099

Insider Monkey Score (2024): 0.02851

Singapore ranks 48th on our list with an Insider Monkey score of 0.02851. It is one of the most educated countries in the world.

47. Hungary

Universities in Top 1,000 QS Ranking (2024): 5

Average Rank of Universities (2024): 703

Per Capita Spending on Education (2023 Estimates): $1,054

Insider Monkey Score (2024): 0.03532

Five universities in Hungary are ranked in the top 1,000 by the QS rankings. This is why it is one of the countries on our list of the most educated nations in the world.

46. Denmark

Universities in Top 1,000 QS Ranking (2024): 5

Average Rank of Universities (2024): 206.6

Per Capita Spending on Education (2023 Estimates): $4,313

Insider Monkey Score (2024): 0.03559

Denmark has a per capita education spending of $4,313 and an Insider Monkey score of 0.03559. It ranks 46th on our list.

45. Ukraine

Universities in Top 1,000 QS Ranking (2024): 6

Average Rank of Universities (2024): 836.71

Per Capita Spending on Education (2023 Estimates): $300

Insider Monkey Score (2024): 0.04229

Ukraine ranks 45th on our list of the world’s most educated countries, with a total of six universities in the top 1,000 ranking by QS.

44. Greece

Universities in Top 1,000 QS Ranking (2024): 6

Average Rank of Universities (2024): 591.17

Per Capita Spending on Education (2023 Estimates): $940

Insider Monkey Score (2024): 0.04241

Greece has a per capita education spending of $940 and is one of the most educated countries in the world.

43. Iran

Universities in Top 1,000 QS Ranking (2024): 6

Average Rank of Universities (2024): 451

Per Capita Spending on Education (2023 Estimates): $136

Insider Monkey Score (2024): 0.04247

Iran ranks 43rd on our list of the most educated countries in the world, despite having a per capita education spending of only $136.

42. Israel

Universities in Top 1,000 QS Ranking (2024): 6

Average Rank of Universities (2024): 420.5

Per Capita Spending on Education (2023 Estimates): $3,945

Insider Monkey Score (2024): 0.04252

Israel has a per capita education spending of $3,945 and ranks 42nd on our list of the most educated countries in the world.

41. Hong Kong

Universities in Top 1,000 QS Ranking (2024): 7

Average Rank of Universities (2024): 172

Per Capita Spending on Education (2023 Estimates): $1,908

Insider Monkey Score (2024): 0.04966

Seven universities in Hong Kong rank in the top 1,000 universities by QS ranking. These universities have an average rank of 172.