Education at a Glance 2025: Argentina
Table of contents
This country note provides an overview of the key characteristics of the education system in Argentina based on data from Education at a Glance 2025. In line with this year’s thematic focus, it emphasises tertiary education while also covering other parts of the education system. The data in this note are provided for the latest available year. Readers interested in the reference years for the data should refer to the corresponding tables in Education at a Glance 2025.
Educational attainment remains high in most OECD countries. In 2024, 48% of 25-34 year-olds across OECD countries hold a tertiary qualification—the highest level ever recorded. In Argentina, the share is lower, at 19%, similar to the percentage in 2019. In parallel, the share of young adults (25-34 year-olds) without upper secondary attainment continues to decline across the OECD, reaching an average of 13%. This trend is also visible in Argentina, where the share fell from 27% to 26% between 2019 and 2023 (Table A1.2).
Individuals with greater educational attainment generally face a lower risk of unemployment and earn higher wages. Completing upper secondary education is particularly important in reducing the risk of unemployment. On average across the OECD, 12.9% of economically active young adults (25-34 year-olds) without an upper secondary qualification are unemployed in 2023, compared to 6.9% of those with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment. Those who go on to gain a tertiary qualification see a relatively smaller further reduction in unemployment, with 4.9% of tertiary-educated young adults unemployed on average across the OECD (Table A3.4).
This pattern is different in Argentina, where young adults who have not attained an upper secondary education in 2023 have unemployment rates well below the OECD average, and those with tertiary education fare significantly better than other education groups: 7.8% are unemployed among those without an upper secondary qualification, 7.2% among those with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment, and 4.1% among those with tertiary attainment (Figure 1).
The average wage gap between individuals (25-64 year-olds) with and without upper secondary educational attainment is relatively modest across OECD countries. On average across the OECD, workers without upper secondary qualifications earn on average 17% less than those who have completed upper secondary education, while workers with tertiary attainment earn 54% more than those with upper secondary attainment. In Argentina, the wage gap between workers with and without upper secondary attainment is smaller than the OECD average, at 13%. The gap between those with upper secondary and tertiary attainment is larger than the OECD average, at 63% (Table A4.1).
In Argentina, the wage gap between individuals (25-64 year-olds) with tertiary educational attainment also varies considerably by level of qualification. Those with a master’s degree have the highest earnings, making on average 2.5 times more than individuals with only an upper secondary attainment. Bachelor’s degree holders earn 75% more than upper secondary graduates, while those with a short-cycle tertiary diploma earn only 30 % more (Figure 2).
In per cent
For data, see OECD (2025) Education at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en, Table A3.5.
25-64 year-old full-time full-year workers, upper secondary education = 100
1. Year of reference differs from 2023.
2. Index 100 refers to the combined levels of upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education.
3. Includes part-time and part-year workers.
For data, see OECD (2025) Education at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en, Table A4.1.
Education systems must adapt to changes in the number of children by expanding or reducing provision accordingly. In many countries, the population of children aged 0-4 changed significantly between 2013 and 2023 and is projected to change further by 2033. Argentina experienced a decline of 26% in the number of 0-4 year-olds, and is projected to see a decline of 7% between 2023 and 2033 (Figure B1.3 of EAG 2025). It should be noted that additional demographic analyses carried out by the Argentine Ministry of Education, based on vital statistics, indicate a 39% reduction in the birth rate for the same period. This sharp decline highlights the need to orient educational policies toward addressing the effects of demographic changes in the school-age population in Argentina, specifically within the pre-primary age range.
Participation of 3- to 5-year-olds in early childhood education and care (ISCED 0) has increased over the past decade, rising across the OECD from 80% in 2013 to 85% in 2023. Although slightly below the OECD average, Argentina follows this trend, with participation climbing from 73% to 77% over the same period (Figure 3).
1. Early childhood education excludes early childhood educational development programmes (ISCED 01).
2. Year of reference differs from 2013.
3. Year of reference differs from 2023.
For data, see OECD (2025) Education at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en, Table B1.2.
Repetition rates have decreased across OECD countries in recent years, particularly in Argentina, where the share of repeaters in lower secondary education dropped from 11.0% in 2015 to 5.5% in 2023. With 5.5% of students repeating a grade in 2023, Argentina is still above the OECD average of 2.5% (Table B2.2).
Across the OECD, the two most popular broad fields of study are science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and business, administration, and law, each accounting for 23% of graduates from bachelor’s or equivalent programmes. They are closely followed by the broad field of arts and humanities, social sciences, journalism and information, at 22% of graduates. In Argentina, 16% of bachelor’s degree students graduate from a STEM field, 20% from business, administration and law, and 23% from arts and humanities, social sciences, journalism and information (Table B4.2).
International student mobility in tertiary education continues to rise across the OECD, with some countries experiencing substantial growth in the share of international students between 2018 and 2023. On average, 7.4% of all tertiary students across the OECD were international or foreign students, compared to 6% in 2018. Argentina saw a modest increase, with the share rising from 3.4% to 3.8% (Figure 4).
For data, see OECD (2025) Education at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en, Table B4.3.
There are significant disparities in how much governments spend each year in education across OECD, partner and accession countries. Argentina spends USD 4 448 per student from primary to post-secondary non-tertiary levels, placing it at the lower end of the country range, which spans from less than USD 2 000 to more than USD 27 000 (Figure 5).
In equivalent USD converted using PPPs, expenditure on educational institutions
Note: Expenditure at tertiary level includes R&D. Expenditure per student in early childhood education is based on headcounts rather than full-time equivalent students. Expenditure at tertiary level for Luxembourg (USD 54 384) is not shown in the figure.
1. Year of reference differs from 2022.
2. Primary includes pre-primary education.
3. Includes payments by households outside educational institutions.
For data, see OECD (2025) Education at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en, Table C1.1 and Table C1.2.
In contrast to most other countries, government expenditure in Argentina is lower at tertiary level, including research and development (R&D), than at primary to post-secondary non-tertiary levels. Government expenditure in Argentina amounts to USD 3 329 per tertiary student compared to the OECD average of USD 15 102 (Table C1.1).
At pre-primary level, government expenditure in Argentina increased by 16% between 2015 and 2022. This is despite a decrease of 1.7% in the number of children enrolled. As a result, government expenditure per child has increased, by 18%, compared to an average increase of 24% across the OECD since 2015 (Table C2.5).
Many countries are experiencing teacher shortages, reflected not just in the number of unfilled teaching positions, but also in other indicators such as the share of non-fully qualified teachers in the teaching workforce. In the 14 countries and economies with data available, 1.6% of teaching positions are unfilled on average, and 4.9% of teachers are not fully qualified. In Argentina, the share of unfilled teaching positions is 1.2%, while no data is available on the share of non-fully qualified teachers. However, cross-country comparisons of these data should be made with even greater caution than in other areas, as teacher recruitment processes vary significantly, ranging from centralised systems with competitive national exams to fully decentralised hiring at the school level, making comparisons of vacancy levels difficult (Tables D8.2 and D8.3).
High teacher turnover can place additional pressure on recruitment, while very low turnover may limit the renewal of the teaching workforce. In most countries with available data, between 1% and 3% of teachers retire each year. However, the share of teachers leaving the profession for reasons other than retirement varies more widely, ranging from almost none in some countries to nearly 10% in others. Argentina is among the countries with moderate turnover, with 2.7% of teachers retiring and 2.7% resigning each year (Figure 6).
In per cent, full-time and part-time, public institutions
1. Academic year 2021/22 for Denmark, England (UK), France and New Zealand.
2. Only primary education in Argentina. Excluding pre-primary education in Greece and Ireland. Excluding upper secondary education in Denmark and Israel. Excluding upper secondary vocational education in the Netherlands.
3. Includes non-fully qualified teachers.
4. Includes teachers who left the profession because they were appointed to other positions in the education sector.
For data, see OECD (2025) Education at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en, Table D8.4.
Further analysis of teacher trajectories and school turnover over six years in primary education is available in the report by the Undersecretariat of Educational Information and Evaluation “Teacher Trajectories, Mobility, and Rotation of Primary School Teachers (2025)”, available at: https://www.argentina.gob.ar/sites/default/files/2025/04/23-04-25_trayectorias_docentes.pdf.
Attracting second-career teachers can help alleviate teacher shortages while bringing individuals with a broader range of experience into the profession. To support this, 16 out of 28 countries with available data (including Argentina) offer dedicated alternative pathways into teaching for individuals changing careers (Box D8.1).
School holidays in 2025 (excluding other public or religious days) in primary education last 11.2 weeks per year in Argentina (all breaks combined), compared to 13.5 weeks across the OECD. Argentina, along with Italy and Korea, is one of the countries with only one additional school break during the academic year. However, the school calendar also includes several religious or other public holidays that provide additional days off (Figure 7).
In weeks, in public institutions
Note: Breaks exclude public/religious days, except if these days are included in longer breaks.
1. End-of-year break includes examination periods.
2. Minimum length of breaks. Length of breaks may vary by region, by programme and/or by individual school.
3. Data for the federal state with the highest number of pupils, Nordrhein-Westfalen. The length and number of breaks for Germany are indicative due to variation across Länder, even if the total duration of breaks is similar across the Länder.
4. Holiday periods common for all states and territories.
For data, see OECD (2025) Education at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en, Figure D1.2.
For more information on Education at a Glance 2025 and to access the full set of indicators, see: https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en.
For more information on the methodology used during the data collection for each indicator, the references to the sources and the specific notes for each country, see Education at a Glance 2025: Sources, Methodologies and Technical Notes, https://doi.org/10.1787/fcfaf2d1-en.
For general information on the methodology, please refer to the OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative Education Statistics 2018, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264304444-en.
Updated data can be found on line at http://data-explorer.oecd.org/ and by following the StatLinks in the publication.
Explore, compare and visualise more data and analysis using the Education GPS: https://gpseducation.oecd.org/.
Questions can be directed to the Education at a Glance team at the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills: EDU.EAG@oecd.org.
This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD.
This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.
The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law.
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