Pupil-qualified teacher ratio in upper secondary (headcount basis) by country
Average number of pupils per qualified teacher at a given level of education, based on headcounts of both pupils and teachers. Divide the total number of pupils enrolled at the specified level of education by the number of qualified teachers at the same level. A qualified teacher is one who has the minimum academic...
What the numbers show
Pupil-qualified teacher ratio in upper secondary (headcount basis) is currently reported for 25 countries. The highest value is 34.41 headcount basis in Eritrea; the lowest is 8.11 headcount basis in Brunei.
The median across all reporting countries is 14.69 headcount basis, and the mean is 17.3 headcount basis.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 4.
Over the past decade 6 countries rose and 10 fell. The largest increase was in Cuba (up 36.2%), and the largest decrease in Palestine (down 71.0%).
Pupil-qualified teacher ratio in upper secondary: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eritrea | 34.41 headcount basis | 2018 | down 25.1% | falling |
| 2 | Laos | 31.46 headcount basis | 2017 | — | falling |
| 3 | Palestine | 28.35 headcount basis | 2019 | down 71.0% | volatile |
| 4 | Nepal | 28.07 headcount basis | 2019 | down 4.1% | flat |
| 5 | Thailand | 26.87 headcount basis | 2019 | — | falling |
| 6 | Colombia | 25.15 headcount basis | 2017 | — | rising |
| 7 | Belize | 23.69 headcount basis | 2019 | down 41.9% | falling |
| 9 | Ecuador | 19.98 headcount basis | 2018 | up 0.8% | flat |
| 10 | Niger | 18.1 headcount basis | 2017 | — | rising |
| 11 | Suriname | 16.63 headcount basis | 2015 | down 29.8% | falling |
| 12 | China | 16.14 headcount basis | 2019 | — | falling |
| 13 | Barbados | 14.8 headcount basis | 2019 | — | flat |
| 14 | Uzbekistan | 14.69 headcount basis | 2017 | down 26.1% | falling |
| 16 | Bahamas | 14.5 headcount basis | 2018 | up 26.5% | flat |
| 17 | Albania | 14.26 headcount basis | 2017 | — | falling |
| 18 | Saudi Arabia | 13.93 headcount basis | 2019 | up 24.0% | rising |
| 19 | Cuba | 13.71 headcount basis | 2019 | up 36.2% | rising |
| 20 | Costa Rica | 13.35 headcount basis | 2019 | down 5.0% | falling |
| 21 | Qatar | 11.54 headcount basis | 2019 | up 25.4% | rising |
| 22 | Bahrain | 9.49 headcount basis | 2019 | up 1.9% | flat |
| 23 | Jordan | 9.35 headcount basis | 2019 | down 0.3% | falling |
| 24 | Belarus | 8.92 headcount basis | 2018 | — | flat |
| 25 | Macao | 8.82 headcount basis | 2019 | down 28.5% | falling |
| 26 | Serbia | 8.21 headcount basis | 2019 | down 11.8% | falling |
| 27 | Brunei | 8.11 headcount basis | 2019 | — | falling |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Lower middle income 25.84 headcount basis
- Least developed countries: UN classification 23.68 headcount basis
- IDA only 22.38 headcount basis
- Middle income 20.28 headcount basis
- Low & middle income 20.17 headcount basis
- IBRD only 19.17 headcount basis
- World 17.82 headcount basis
- East Asia & Pacific (IDA & IBRD countries) 17.4 headcount basis
- East Asia & Pacific (excluding high income) 17.37 headcount basis
- East Asia & Pacific 16.82 headcount basis
- Upper middle income 16.29 headcount basis
- Late-demographic dividend 15.85 headcount basis
About this data
Average number of pupils per qualified teacher at a given level of education, based on headcounts of both pupils and teachers. Divide the total number of pupils enrolled at the specified level of education by the number of qualified teachers at the same level. A qualified teacher is one who has the minimum academic qualifications necessary to teach at a specific level of education in a given country. This is usually related to the subject(s) they teach. In computing and interpreting this indicator, one should take into account the existence of part-time teaching, school-shifts, multi-grade classes and other practices that may affect the precision and meaningfulness of pupil-teacher ratios. When feasible, the number of part-time teachers is converted to ‘full-time equivalent’ teachers; a double-shift teacher is counted twice, etc. Teachers are defined as persons whose professional activity involves the transmitting of knowledge, attitudes and skills that are stipulated in a formal curriculum programme to students enrolled in a formal educational institution.