Education at a Glance 2026: Iceland
Table of contents
This country note for Education at a Glance 2026 provides an overview of the key characteristics of the education system in Iceland. 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.
Recruiting second-career teachers is a common strategy for addressing teacher shortages and helps to diversify the profile of the teaching workforce. According to the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2024, on average across the OECD, 8.4% of lower secondary teachers are second-career teachers; in Iceland, they make up 20.9% of all teachers (Table 5).
According to the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2024, a large majority of lower secondary teachers (68.4%) are satisfied with their terms of employment (barring salaries) on average across the OECD. In contrast, the share of lower secondary teachers who are satisfied with their salaries is much lower at 38.7% on average. In Iceland, 72.2% of lower secondary teachers are satisfied with their terms of employment and 19.3% are satisfied with their salaries (Table 5).
The number of teachers a system needs is not determined by student numbers alone. On average across the OECD, measured in full-time equivalents, the number of teachers in public and private primary schools rose by 13% between 2015 and 2024, even though the number of primary students rose by only 2% over the same period, a divergence driven by policy choices around class sizes, teachers’ working hours and instruction time. In Iceland, the number of primary teachers increased by 16% over this period, while the number of students increased by 6% (Table 7).
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 Iceland, the share of adults with tertiary attainment in 2023 was similar to the OECD average at 44%, while the share of adults with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment was below the OECD average at 35% (Table A1.1).
The share of young adults without upper secondary attainment continues to decline across the OECD, standing at 12% in 2025. This trend is also apparent in Iceland, where the share of 25-34 year-olds without upper secondary attainment decreased from 27% to 19% between 2015 and 2023 (Table A1.2).
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. This is also the case in Iceland, where 22% of all 55-64 year-olds have upper secondary vocational attainment in 2025, compared to 12% of all 25-34 year-olds (Table A1.3).
Youth and young adults who are neither employed nor in education or training (NEET) are a key policy concern, as prolonged periods of inactivity at a young age can have lasting negative effects on socio-economic outcomes later in life. In Iceland, 5% of all 18-24 year-olds were NEET in 2025, down from 7% in 2015. For comparison, the average share of NEETs across OECD countries with available data for both years was 13% in 2025 and 16% in 2015 (Table A2.2).
Workers with higher educational attainment are much more likely to be in jobs where they can work from home in most countries. In Iceland, 66% of tertiary-educated workers sometimes or usually work from home compared to 35% of workers with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment (Figure A6.3).
Participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is common among children from the age of 3 in all OECD countries. In Iceland, 96% of children between the age of 3 and the starting age of primary education (age 6 in Iceland) were enrolled in ECEC in 2024, higher 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 Iceland, 94% 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 Iceland at the upper end of OECD countries with available data (Table B1.1).
The number of primary and secondary schools – and thus their geographical proximity to students – varies across countries. Many countries have more primary than lower secondary schools, reflecting the desire to provide education close to primary students’ homes while offering secondary students the greater choice of specialist subjects that can only be provided by larger schools. In Iceland, there are 1.14 primary schools for each lower secondary school, below the OECD average of 1.97 (Figure B2.4).
In most countries, there is no strong alignment between trends in the number of students and trends in the number of schools at lower secondary level. In Iceland, the number of lower secondary students increased by 2.15% annually between 2015 and 2024, while the number of lower secondary schools increased by 0.15% annually over the same period. On average across the OECD, the number of students increased by 0.96%, while the number of schools decreased by 0.10% (Figure B2.1).
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 Iceland the share of outbound international students is 12%, while inbound international students average 11%. The top three destination countries for outbound students in Iceland are Denmark (33%), the United States (13%) and Sweden (9%), while the top three origin countries of inbound students are the United States (11%), Poland (7%) and the Philippines (7%) (Table B4.3. and Table B4.4).
In many countries, inbound mobility has increased faster than outbound mobility among tertiary students. On average across the OECD, the share of inbound mobile students increased by 4 percentage points between 2015 and 2024, and the share of outbound mobile students increased by 1 percentage point. In Iceland, the share of inbound students increased by 3 percentage points, while the share of outbound students decreased by 1 percentage point (Table B4.3).
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 Iceland, government expenditure equalled 5.2% of GDP in 2023, while private expenditure equalled 0.2% (Table C1.8).
In OECD countries with available data for both years, average government expenditure on primary to tertiary education (based on final funds, inside and outside educational institutions) has decreased slightly from 4.4% of GDP in 2015 to 4.2% in 2023. Over the same period, it decreased from 5.6% to 5.3% in Iceland, thus mirroring the trend of declining government expenditure on education as a share of GDP (Figure 1).
Total government expenditure on education (inside and outside of educational institutions); primary to tertiary education
1. Data include or exclude some categories, please refer to the source table for more information.
For data, see OECD (2026) Education at a Glance 2026: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/b4968bbc-en, Figure C1.2 and Table C1.7.
Government expenditure on primary to tertiary education as share of GDP (based on final funds, on educational institutions, including R&D) varies by a factor of approximately two across OECD countries (ranging from 2.4% to 5.2%), while government expenditure per student varies by a factor of ten (from USD 3 398 to USD 32 832 adjusted for purchasing power parity) as differences in income levels mean nominal expenditure tends to vary more than relative expenditure. On average across the OECD, expenditure per student from primary to tertiary education was USD 13 601 in 2023, while in Iceland it was USD 19 675 (Table C1.4. and Table C1.1).
In early childhood education, government expenditure per child has grown substantially between 2015 and 2023 in many OECD countries. This was also the case in Iceland, where expenditure per child aged 3-5 in 2023 was USD 18 656 compared to USD 12 215 in 2015 (Table C2.3).
Government expenditure on education tends to rise with the level of education. In primary education, expenditure per student was USD 20 889 in 2023 in Iceland and USD 12 893 on average across the OECD. In lower secondary education, it was USD 20 973 in Iceland and USD 14 291 on average across the OECD. Thus, Iceland is among the majority of OECD countries where expenditure is higher at lower secondary level than at primary level (Table C3.1).
Expenditure can be divided into capital and current expenditure: the former finances investment in assets such as infrastructure, while the latter covers regular operating costs. Current expenditure can be further broken down into staff compensation and other current expenditure, such as purchases of goods and services and routine maintenance. In Iceland, 74% of current expenditure in primary educational institutions is dedicated to staff compensation compared to 79% on average across the OECD, while the remainder is dedicated to other current expenditure (Figure C3.3).
At upper secondary level, government expenditure per student can differ substantially between general and vocational programmes. Vocational programmes are often more expensive than general programmes due to the need for specialised technical equipment, while at the same time, private contributions, for example from firms, cover a larger share of overall costs in some countries. In Iceland, expenditure per student is USD 12 998 in general upper secondary programmes and USD 20 147 in vocational upper secondary programmes, compared to the OECD average of USD 12 421 in general programmes and USD 13 901 in vocational ones (Table C4.1).
On average across the OECD, government expenditure per student is the highest at bachelor’s and above levels despite being the levels where government expenditure accounts for the smallest share of total expenditure. Iceland is among the countries where government expenditure constitutes a larger share of total expenditure compared to the OECD average. Government expenditure per student was USD 21 107 in 2023, corresponding to 88% of total expenditure at bachelor’s and above levels. In comparison, average government expenditure per student across the OECD was USD 16 405, amounting to 68% of total expenditure (Table C5.1).
As discussed above, most countries have increased their investment in pre-primary education in recent years. This is also reflected in the ratio of children to teachers. Across the OECD, the number of children enrolled at this level decreased slightly by 2% between 2015 and 2024 while the number of teachers increased by 14%, resulting in a 14% reduction in the child-to-teacher ratio. Similarly, in Iceland, the number of children enrolled in pre-primary education decreased by 5%, while the number of pre-primary teachers increased by 12%, resulting in a 16% decrease of the child-to-teacher ratio (Data for chart D2.1).
Teachers spend only a fraction of their working time teaching; the remainder is devoted to other tasks, including lesson preparation and marking. On average across the OECD, primary teachers taught 770 hours per year compared to 710 hours per year in lower secondary education. In Iceland, annual typical teaching hours were 624 in primary education and 624 in lower secondary education. Thus, Iceland was one of the few countries where teachers in primary education did not have to teach more hours than their lower secondary colleagues (Figure 2).
Net statutory teaching time in hours per year, in public institutions
Note: Please refer to the source table for information on whether the data refer to typical, minimum or maximum hours.
1. Actual teaching time (in Latvia except for pre-primary level).
2. Reference year differs from 2023. Refer to the source table for details.
3. Average planned teaching time in each school at the beginning of the school year.
For data, see OECD (2026) Education at a Glance 2026: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/b4968bbc-en, Figure D4.1 and Table D4.1.
Women form the majority of teachers at all levels of education except tertiary. Teachers in pre-primary education are almost entirely women with 96% of teachers being female on average across the OECD. The share of women among pre-primary teachers in Iceland is slightly lower at 92%. At 81%, the share of female teachers in lower secondary education is lower, although it is still above the OECD average of 68% (Table D5.1).
Across the OECD, women are more strongly represented among teachers than among school management staff. This is not the case in Iceland. In primary education, women in Iceland accounted for 81% of teachers and 85% of school management staff in 2024, a gap of 4 percentage points (Figure D5.3).
Contact
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.
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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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