Iceland
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Iceland
Overview of the education system (EAG 2026)
| Education at a Glance 2026 (EAG 2026): OECD Indicators | Country note | Annexes from Education at a Glance 2026 | OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative Education Statistics 2018 | OECD Education Policy Outlook: Iceland | Mennta- og menningarmálaráðuneytið (Ministry of Education, Science and Culture) | Hagstofa Íslands (Statistics Iceland) |
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The following list displays indicators for which your selected country shows the highest and lowest values among countries.
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Entrance
The share of new entrants younger than 25 in bachelor's or equivalent programmes is one of the smallest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (75.1 %, rank 34/37 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the percentage of new entrants in short-cycle tertiary programmes younger than 25 is relatively low. (18.1 %, rank 34/34 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the percentage of first-time entrants into tertiary education younger than 25 is relatively low. (70.7 %, rank 28/30 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the share of first-time entrants in master's programmes is one of the lowest among OECD countries and partner economies with available data. (0.4 %, rank 23/25 , 2024) Download Indicator
Participation in education
The percentage of students in independent private tertiary educational institutions is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (0 %, rank 33/35 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the percentage of female students enrolled in upper secondary vocational programmes is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries. (34.5 %, rank 41/41 , 2024) Download Indicator
The enrolment rate of 15–19-year-olds in post-secondary non-tertiary general programmes was among the lowest across participating countries. (0 %, rank 9/11 , 2024) Download Indicator
The share of female students in post-secondary non-tertiary general programmes was one of the smallest across participating countries. (57.1 %, rank 7/10 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the share of post-secondary non-tertiary students enrolled in programmes giving full level completion without access to tertiary education is relatively small compared to other OECD or partner contries. (0.3 %, rank 15/15 , 2024) Download Indicator
The share of female students enrolled in post-secondary non-tertiary programmes is one of the smallest among OECD countries and partner economies with available data. (22.7 %, rank 27/29 , 2024) Download Indicator
Student mobility
The share of worldwide foreign and international students is one of the smallest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (0 %, rank 46/46 , 2023) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the share of international or foreign students enrolled in doctoral or equivalent programmes is one of the largest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (43.3 %, rank 4/41 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the proportion of international new entrants in master's long first degree (LFD) programmes is relatively low. (0 %, rank 21/23 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the proportion of international or foreign students enrolled in short-cycle tertiary programmes is one of the largest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (33 %, rank 3/35 , 2024) Download Indicator
Student mobility by field of education
The percentage of students enrolled in the field of business, administration and law among all international or foreign tertiary students in Iceland is relatively low. (6.6 %, rank 38/38 , 2024) Download Indicator
The percentage of students enrolled in the field of engineering, manufacturing and construction among all international or foreign tertiary students in Iceland is relatively low. (7.8 %, rank 34/38 , 2024) Download Indicator
The percentage of students enrolled in the field of health and welfare among all international or foreign tertiary students in Iceland is relatively low. (4.4 %, rank 36/38 , 2024) Download Indicator
Expenditure per student
Annual expenditure per primary student is one of the highest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (21074 USD Equivalent, rank 2/37 , 2023) Download Indicator
The total annual expenditure per full-time equivalent student on upper secondary vocational education is one of the largest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (22129 USD Equivalent, rank 5/30 , 2023) Download Indicator
Expenditure in education and national wealth
In Iceland, government expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP at primary to tertiary levels of education is comparatively high. (5.3 %, rank 5/42 , 2023) Download Indicator
In Iceland, expenditure on primary educational institutions as a percentage of GDP is comparatively high. (2.1 %, rank 2/37 , 2023) Download Indicator
In Iceland, government expenditure on educational institutions as a percentage of GDP on primary to tertiary education from final source of funds is relatively high. (5.2 %, rank 1/42 , 2023) Download Indicator
Government expenditure as a percentage of GDP from initial source of funds at primary to tertiary education is relatively high in Iceland. (5.2 %, rank 1/38 , 2023) Download Indicator
Government and private expenditure in education
The share of private expenditure on all levels below tertiary education is one of the smallest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (2.8 %, rank 33/36 , 2023) Download Indicator
The share of private expenditure on tertiary education is one of the smallest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (6.3 %, rank 34/36 , 2023) Download Indicator
Iceland has one of the smallest shares of private expenditure on primary through tertiary educational institutions among OECD countries and partner economies with available data. (3.6 %, rank 34/36 , 2023) Download Indicator
The share of government expenditure on educational institutions, for tertiary education is comparatively large in Iceland. (87.9 %, rank 3/36 , 2023) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the share of government expenditure on educational institutions, for primary to tertiary education is comparatively large. (95 %, rank 3/36 , 2023) Download Indicator
Nature of expenditure
In Iceland, the share of capital expenditure on primary through tertiary education is one of the smallest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (5.7 %, rank 31/35 , 2023) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the share of capital expenditure on post-secondary non-tertiary education is one of the smallest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (1.4 %, rank 17/21 , 2023) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the share of capital expenditure on tertiary education is one of the smallest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (1.8 %, rank 36/37 , 2023) Download Indicator
Teachers
The number of hours per year upper secondary teachers spend teaching general programmes in public institutions is comparatively low in Iceland. (480 Hours, rank 39/40 , 2025) Download Indicator
In Iceland, upper secondary public schools have among the fewest instruction days per school year across OECD and partner countries with available data. (150 Days, rank 41/41 , 2025) Download Indicator
The number of hours per year pre-primary teachers spend teaching in public institutions is comparatively high in Iceland. (1445 Hours, rank 1/33 , 2025) Download Indicator
Who the teachers are
The share of women among teaching staff in pre-primary education is one of the smallest across OECD and partner countries with available data. (91.5 %, rank 38/40 , 2024) Download Indicator
The share of women among teaching staff in lower secondary education is one of the largest across OECD and partner countries with available data. (81.1 %, rank 4/40 , 2024) Download Indicator
The share of women among teaching staff in tertiary education is one of the largest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (54.4 %, rank 3/41 , 2024) Download Indicator
The percentage of upper secondary teachers younger than 30 is especially low. (3.2 %, rank 41/42 , 2024) Download Indicator
The percentage of primary to upper secondary teachers younger than 30 is especially low. (6.3 %, rank 38/42 , 2024) Download Indicator
The percentage of female teachers younger than 30 in primary education is especially low in Iceland. (70.6 %, rank 38/42 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the share of women among teaching staff in early childhood educational development is one of the lowest, compared to OECD and partner countries with available data. (91.5 %, rank 20/23 , 2024) Download Indicator
The percentage of teachers aged 50 or more in pre-primary education is especially low in Iceland (20.4 %, rank 34/37 , 2024) Download Indicator
Teachers' salaries progression
The salary progression from the start to the top of the salary scale for a lower secondary school teacher is among the smallest across OECD and partner countries with available data. (1.16 Ratio, rank 41/43 , 2025) Download Indicator
The ratio of pre-primary teachers' salaries at the top of the scale to their starting salary is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (1.16 Ratio, rank 33/37 , 2025) Download Indicator
The ratio of primary teachers' salaries at the top of the scale to their starting salary is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (1.16 Ratio, rank 41/43 , 2025) Download Indicator
In pre-primary education, the salary ratio of teachers with maximum qualifications at the top of the salary scale to those with minimum training and starting salaries is relatively low. (1.16 Ratio, rank 33/37 , 2025) Download Indicator
In primary education, the salary ratio of teachers with maximum qualifications at the top of the salary scale to those with minimum training and starting salaries is comparatively low. (1.16 Ratio, rank 42/44 , 2025) Download Indicator
In lower secondary education, the salary ratio of teachers with maximum qualifications at the top of the salary scale to those with minimum training and starting salaries is comparatively low. (1.16 Ratio, rank 42/44 , 2025) Download Indicator
Ratio of student to teaching staff
The number of students per teacher in tertiary institutions is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (8.2 Ratio, rank 35/36 , 2024) Download Indicator
The number of pupils per teacher in pre-primary schools is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (4.6 Ratio, rank 38/38 , 2024) Download Indicator
The number of students per teacher in primary schools is one of the lowest among OECD countries and partner countries with available data. (9.7 Ratio, rank 41/43 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the ratio of students to teaching staff in bachelor's, master's, doctoral or equivalent programmes is one of the lowest compared to other OECD and partner countries with available data. (8.2 Ratio, rank 32/33 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the ratio of children to contact staff in pre-primary education is one of the lowest compared to other OECD and partner countries with available data. (4.6 Ratio, rank 24/26 , 2024) Download Indicator
The ratio of students to teaching staff at the lower secondary level in private institutions is especially low in Iceland. (7.9 Ratio, rank 36/39 , 2024) Download Indicator
The ratio of students to teaching staff at the lower secondary level in government-dependent private institutions is especially low in Iceland. (7.9 Ratio, rank 22/23 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the number of students per teacher in public institutions at the tertiary level is one of the lowest among countries with available data. (7 Ratio, rank 37/38 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the student-teacher ratio for bachelor's, master's, doctoral or equivalent programmes in public institutions is among the lowest across participating countries. (7 Ratio, rank 34/35 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the student-teacher ratio for bachelor's, master's, doctoral or equivalent programmes in private institutions is among the lowest across participating countries. (14.3 Ratio, rank 25/29 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the student-teacher ratio for bachelor's, master's, doctoral or equivalent programmes in government-dependent private institutions is among the lowest across participating countries. (14.3 Ratio, rank 9/13 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the ratio of children to teaching staff in early childhood educational development is one of the lowest compared to other OECD and partner countries with available data. (2.6 Ratio, rank 23/23 , 2024) Download Indicator
In Iceland the ratio of children to contact staff in early childhood educational development is one of the lowest compared to the other OECD and partner countries with available data. (2.6 Ratio, rank 16/17 , 2024) Download Indicator
Organisation of the education system
Classes in private primary institutions are comparatively small in Iceland. (14 Students, rank 35/38 , 2024) Download Indicator
In government-dependent private institutions at primary education level, the average class size is relatively small in Iceland among OECD and other partner countries with available data. (14 Students, rank 21/22 , 2024) Download Indicator
In government-dependent private institutions at lower secondary level, the average class size is relatively small in Iceland among OECD and partner countries with available data. (16 Students, rank 19/22 , 2024) Download Indicator
Social outcomes
Among employed adults aged 25-64 with below upper secondary attainment, the share who sometimes or usually work from home in Iceland was among the largest across countries with available data. (24.1 %, rank 5/29 , 2023) Download Indicator
The share of employed adults aged 25-64 with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment who sometimes or usually work from home was among the highest in Iceland compared with other countries with available data. (35 %, rank 3/32 , 2023) Download Indicator
In Iceland, the share of employed adults aged 25-64 with tertiary attainment who sometimes or usually work from home was among the largest across countries with available data. (65.8 %, rank 2/32 , 2023) Download Indicator
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General findings
- Educational attainment remains at an all-time high in 2025 as more people obtain advanced qualifications. Across the OECD, 43% of working-age adults have a tertiary qualification, while the share of adults with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment is slightly lower at 39%.
- On a similar note, the share of young adults without upper secondary attainment continues to decline across the OECD, standing at 12% in 2025. Therefore, while more young adults obtain a tertiary qualification, the share of individuals whose highest qualification is upper secondary with a vocational orientation is decreasing in almost all OECD countries.
- Regarding the share of young people being neither in employment nor in education or training, it stood at 14% as of 2025 across OECD countries. However, cross-country comparisons reveal a wide variety of trends, ranging from large falls in Croatia or Ireland to increases in Germany or Latvia.
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- Most children aged 3 to 5 are enrolled in early childhood education, with an average participation rate of 86% across the OECD in 2024. Participation in early childhood education increases with age and tends to be higher in countries with stronger institutional support for participation.
- 76.2% of students complete upper secondary programmes within the theoretical programme duration. This rises to 84.9% with two additional years on average across the OECD.
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- In 2023, OECD countries allocated an average of 9.8% of total government expenditure to education, equivalent to 4.2% of GDP.
- Total expenditure on education tends to rise with the level of education. In primary education, expenditure per student was USD 13 552 in 2023 on average across the OECD. This amount rises to USD 14 923 in secondary education and to USD 22 402 in tertiary education.
- Tertiary education continues to expand, placing pressure on public budgets. Private sources represent a larger share of total funding at the tertiary level than at any other level of education. However, as a whole most investment in education comes from public sources. On average, across the OECD, government expenditure on primary to tertiary education corresponded to 4% of GDP in 2023, while private expenditure corresponded to 0.6%. Both of these figures are measured as initial source of funds, which implies that we are tracking the original provider.
- Research and development represents around one-third of total expenditure across the OECD on tertiary educational institutions, underlining their dual role in both teaching and research. On average across the OECD, in 2023, USD 8 060 were invested annually into research and development for every student enrolled in tertiary education.
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- Compulsory teaching time averages 770 hours per year for primary students and 710 hours for lower secondary students (general programmes), a difference of about 60 hours annually.
- The ratio of children to teachers in primary education has slightly fallen across most OECD countries, decreasing from an average of 15 children per teacher in 2015 to 14 in 2024.
- Teachers’ statutory salaries increase with the level of education taught. On average, across OECD countries and economies, the salaries of teachers with the most prevalent qualifications with 15 years of experience range from USD 60 437 at pre-primary level to USD 68 928 at upper secondary level.
- Teachers’ actual salaries at primary and general secondary levels of education are 87-95% of the average earnings of tertiary-educated workers across OECD countries. School heads' actual salaries are usually higher than those of tertiary-educated workers.
| Education policies: Teachers | Education policies: Learning environment | OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) |
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- On average across OECD countries, 9.1% of teachers in primary and secondary education are non-fully qualified, with shares exceeding 18% in Chile, Denmark, Estonia and Germany.
- Furthermore, the share of fully qualified teachers leaving the profession in primary and secondary schools stands at 6.4% of the total teaching workforce.
- The ratio of children to teachers in primary education has slightly fallen across most OECD countries, decreasing from an average of 15 children per teacher in 2015 to 14 in 2024.
- Regarding job satisfaction among teachers, participating countries show wide differences. Japan, Spain and Czechia reported that teachers tend to be much more satisfied with their jobs than other employed adults. On the other hand, teachers in Hungary, Chile or Latvia tend to be less satisfied with their jobs than other employed adults.
| Education policies: Teachers | Education policies: Teacher working conditions | Education policies: Teacher employment |
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Note: These values should be interpreted with care since they are influenced by countries' specific contexts and trade-offs. In education, there is often no simple
most- or least-efficient model. For instance, the share of private expenditure in education must be read against other measures designed to mitigate inequities,
such as loans and grants; longer learning time is an opportunity to convey more and better content to students, but may hinder investments in other important
areas. If you want further information on the nature of different variables, please take the time to read the analysis and contextual information, available at the website
for each publication.
All rankings for individual variables are compiled on the basis of OECD and G20 countries for which data are available. The OECD average includes only OECD countries which are listed here: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/members-partners.html
Reference years displayed in the Education GPS correspond to the most common year of reference among countries for which data is available on each variable. Data for the latest available year is preferred and some countries may have provided data refering to a more recent or late year. However, OECD averages from Education at a Glance coming from the OECD database are the averages for the indicator reference year appearing in the Education GPS and may differ from averages in the book where averages can include data from multiple reference years, based on countries' data availability.
To know more about possible exceptions on data please click on the "Download Indicator" link on each variable. When a year of reference corresponds to a school year encompassing two years, the reference reads as follows: 2026 for school year 2025/2026 in the Northern Hemisphere.
*TALIS averages are based on all countries participating in the TALIS survey, including partner countries and economies. This explains the difference between the OECD average and the TALIS averages. Data from the TALIS survey and Education at a Glance (EAG) may differ. See Annex E of the TALIS technical report and Sources Methodologies and Technical Notes of EAG 2025 for more details about the data collections.
For additional notes, please refer to annexes in the list of links below the introductory country profile text.
All rankings for individual variables are compiled on the basis of OECD and G20 countries for which data are available. The OECD average includes only OECD countries which are listed here: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/members-partners.html
Reference years displayed in the Education GPS correspond to the most common year of reference among countries for which data is available on each variable. Data for the latest available year is preferred and some countries may have provided data refering to a more recent or late year. However, OECD averages from Education at a Glance coming from the OECD database are the averages for the indicator reference year appearing in the Education GPS and may differ from averages in the book where averages can include data from multiple reference years, based on countries' data availability.
To know more about possible exceptions on data please click on the "Download Indicator" link on each variable. When a year of reference corresponds to a school year encompassing two years, the reference reads as follows: 2026 for school year 2025/2026 in the Northern Hemisphere.
*TALIS averages are based on all countries participating in the TALIS survey, including partner countries and economies. This explains the difference between the OECD average and the TALIS averages. Data from the TALIS survey and Education at a Glance (EAG) may differ. See Annex E of the TALIS technical report and Sources Methodologies and Technical Notes of EAG 2025 for more details about the data collections.
For additional notes, please refer to annexes in the list of links below the introductory country profile text.