Education at a Glance 2026: Argentina
Table of contents
This country note for Education at a Glance 2026 provides an overview of the key characteristics of the education system in Argentina. In line with this year’s thematic focus, it emphasises teacher shortages while also covering other parts of the education system. The data in this note are provided for the latest available year. Readers are referred to the corresponding tables in Education at a Glance 2026 for notes and reference years.
Shortages of skilled workers have affected many sectors across the OECD in recent years, and the teaching profession is no exception. Teacher shortages manifest in different ways across education systems: in some countries, a lack of fully qualified teachers is reflected in a higher share of non-fully qualified staff, while in others a significant number of teaching positions remain unfilled.
Countries use two main approaches to measuring teacher shortages. The first approach estimates shortages before or at the start of the school year based on projected recruitment needs. The second approach measures shortages by counting the number of positions that remain vacant at the start of the school year or shortly after it begins. Argentina uses the first approach. There was a shortage equivalent to 1.7% of all teaching positions in public institutions in secondary education at or before the start of the 2022/23 school year (Table 2).
Educational attainment remains at an all-time high in 2025 as more people obtain advanced qualifications. Across the OECD, 43% of working-age adults (25-64 year-olds) have a tertiary qualification, while the share of adults with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment is slightly lower at 39%. In Argentina, the share of adults with tertiary attainment is below the OECD average at 23%, while the share of adults with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment is above the OECD average at 45% (Table A1.1).
The labour-market significance of advanced qualifications is also reflected in earnings. In almost every OECD country, workers without a tertiary qualification have earnings below the national average. In Argentina, full-time, full-year workers with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment earn 20% less than the national average and those with below upper secondary attainment earn 30% less (Figure A4.1).
Participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is common among children from the age of 3 in all OECD countries. In Argentina, 81% of children between the age of 3 and the starting age of primary education (age 6 in Argentina) were enrolled in ECEC in 2024, lower than the OECD average of 90% (Figure B1.1). However, enrolment rates for younger children vary widely across OECD countries. Among 2 year old children in Argentina, 15% are enrolled in early childhood educational development programmes that meet the criteria of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) by combining education and care. This places Argentina at the lower end of OECD countries with available data (Table B1.1).
At tertiary level (ISCED 5-8), most OECD countries host a larger number of international students than they send abroad. On average across the OECD, outbound internationally mobile students account for 6% of all national students (whether enrolled domestically or abroad), while inbound students account for 12% of all students enrolled domestically in 2024. In Argentina the share of outbound international students is 0%, while inbound international students average 3%. The top three destination countries for outbound students in Argentina are the United States (19%), Spain (17%) and Peru (16%), while the top three origin countries of inbound students are Brazil (20%), Peru (13%) and Ecuador (13%) (Table B4.3. and Table B4.4).
Most investment in education comes from public sources. On average across the OECD, government expenditure on primary to tertiary education (based on initial funds, on educational institutions) corresponded to 4% of GDP in 2023, while private expenditure corresponded to 0.6%. In Argentina, government expenditure equalled 4.3% of GDP in 2023 (Table C1.8).
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For more information on Education at a Glance 2026 and to access the full set of indicators, see: https://doi.org/10.1787/b4968bbc-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 2026: Sources, Methodologies and Technical Notes, https://doi.org/10.1787/dcf64a14-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 online 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 issued under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD, and does not necessarily reflect the official views of OECD Member countries.
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.
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The full book is available in English: OECD (2026), Education at a Glance 2026: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/b4968bbc-en.
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