Education at a Glance 2026: Korea
Table of contents
This country note for Education at a Glance 2026 provides an overview of the key characteristics of the education system in Korea. 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.
In many countries, signs for teacher shortages include unfilled teacher vacancies and higher shares of non-fully qualified teachers. In Korea, no vacancies were reported based on projected recruitment needs and Korea is one of the few countries where no non-fully qualified teachers were reported. Contrary to the trend in most countries across the OECD, teachers in Korea also tend to be younger than the general population with a master’s degree since only 12% of teachers are aged 55 or older compared to 20% of workers with a master’s degree.
However, these facts might only convey an incomplete picture. Temporary teacher absence such as long-term sick leave, parental leave or temporary secondments are comparatively high in Korea with 8.8% of teacher in primary and secondary levels being absent for two months or more. This is the second highest share of temporarily absent teachers across countries with available data.
Furthermore, demographic shifts are putting pressure on Korea’s education system to adapt. The number of children number of children aged 5-14 in Korea is projected to decrease by 40% between 2024 and 2033. These trends will impact school enrolment, resource allocation, and the future size of the labour force, demanding proactive policy planning.
Government investment in education as a share of GDP is with 4.2% on par with the OECD average, but spending differs by level. Korea’s government expenditure is USD 16 944 per student on the lower secondary level, compared to USD 14 291 across the OECD. However, government expenditure per student at bachelor’s and above levels is comparatively low at USD 8 714, which is below the OECD average (USD 16 405).
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) has a high priority in Korea. The government expenditure on pre-primary education increased from USD 6 888 in 2015 to USD 12 743 in 2023. In the same time period, the enrolment rates of students in early childhood education and care also increased substantially, especially for children below two years of age.
Rates increased here from 33% in 2015 to 56% in 2024. Enrolment is near universal for students from age 2 and onwards, reaching 97% for two-year-olds and 96% for students aged 3-6 in 2024. However, part of the increases might also be caused by sinking student numbers.
Across the OECD, education systems have made progress in reducing the share of adults without an upper secondary qualification, with the average reaching 12% in 2025. Korea stands out with the lowest rate among all OECD and partner countries: only 1% of 25-34-year-olds have not attained upper secondary education, reflecting the country’s high overall level of educational attainment.
Korea has the highest rate of tertiary attainment among adults across OECD countries: 58% working age adults have completed tertiary education, compared to the OECD average of 43%. Yet, in Korea, only 16% of the 25-44 year olds and 15% of 45-64 year olds participate in non-formal learning, compared to 52% and 45% in the corresponding age groups across the OECD. Participation in non-formal education is essential for lifelong learning and a supplement on top of formal education to flexibly react to changing labour market needs introduced by artificial intelligence and demographic challenges.
Higher educational attainment also brings earnings advantages, though the size of these benefits varies by country. Workers in Korea with tertiary education earn 30% more than those with only upper secondary education. While this is below the OECD average wage premium of 54%, it remains a meaningful return on investment in education.
This could be partly explained by the above mentioned large share of adults with tertiary education which might increase the average earnings in Korea. The notably low share of master’s and doctoral graduates in Korea might be another reason since post-graduate degrees are connected to a premium of 73% compared to workers with upper secondary education in Korea. Despite the large share of adults with tertiary attainment, only 3% of young adults hold a master’s or doctoral (or equivalent) degree, compared to an OECD average of 17%.
Statutory salaries of teachers tend to be higher than earnings of similarly educated workers in Korea. In lower secondary education, teachers with 15 years of experience can expect to receive a statutory salary that is 29% higher than earnings of similarly educated workers while across the OECD, statutory salaries of teachers are 20% lower than earnings of similarly educated workers. At the same time, while the working time of teachers in Korea is with 1520 hours per year comparable to other OECD countries (1579 hours per year on average for lower secondary teachers), the teaching time is below average. At lower secondary level, the net teaching time is 521 hours per year compared to 710 hours across the OECD.
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.
Non-fully qualified teachers refer to teachers who do not yet meet all the requirements to be recognised as fully qualified teachers under national regulations. In most countries, they either possess the required academic qualifications but lack mandatory certification or teacher training, have completed the required teacher training but do not hold the required academic qualifications, or lack both. Korea is one of the only countries in the OECD without non-fully qualified teachers (Figure 1).
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. Korea uses the first approach. There were no shortages in secondary education at or before the start of the 2024/25 school year (Table 2).
In per cent, full-time equivalents, public institutions
1. Year of reference differs from 2024/25: academic year 2023/24 for Denmark, Finland, France, Germany and Switzerland; calendar year 2024 for Chile and Costa Rica; calendar year 2025 for New Zealand; academic year 2025/26 for Japan.
2. Pre-primary and primary education are combined in France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Upper secondary education is excluded in Denmark, Israel and Switzerland. Upper secondary vocational education is excluded in Finland, Hungary and the Netherlands.
3. Teacher data are based on headcounts instead of full-time equivalents.
4. Year of reference differs from 2017/18: academic year 2018/19 for Bulgaria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland; 2019/20 for Luxembourg and Poland; calendar year 2020 for New Zealand.
5. Including government-dependent private institutions.
6. Teachers classified as non-fully qualified in these countries are in the process of acquiring full qualification.
For data, see OECD (2026) Education at a Glance 2026: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/b4968bbc-en, Figure 1 and Table 1.
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 Korea, they make up 0.9% of all teachers (Table 5).
The attractiveness of the teaching profession depends on a variety of factors, including working conditions and salaries. According to the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), full-time teachers in primary, secondary and vocational education report working 40.8 hours per week on average across the OECD in 2023, compared with 41.5 hours for other full-time workers holding a bachelor’s or master’s qualification. In Korea, these teachers report working 41.3 hours per week on average, while other full-time workers with a bachelor’s or master’s qualification report working 42.9 hours per week (Table 6).
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 Korea, 51.5% of lower secondary teachers are satisfied with their terms of employment and 28.6% are satisfied with their salaries (Table 5).
Teachers tend to be older than other workers. On average across countries with available data, 25% of secondary teachers are aged 55 and over, compared to 19% of employed individuals holding at least a master’s degree and 21% of the overall employed population. Korea does not follow this pattern: 12% of secondary teachers are aged 55 and over, compared to 20% of employed individuals holding at least a master’s degree and 24% of the overall employed population (Figure 10).
High teacher turnover can indicate dissatisfaction with the profession, but the number of teachers in public institutions who leave the profession is also shaped by factors such as the age structure of the workforce, labour-market conditions and the professional culture of a country. In Korea, only 1.9% of fully qualified teachers in primary and secondary education left the profession (through retirement or resignation) in 2024/25, compared with an OECD average of 6.4% (Table 3).
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 Korea, the number of primary teachers increased by 8% over this period, while the number of students decreased by 8% (Table 7).
Looking ahead, the number of children aged 5-14 in Korea is projected to decrease by 40% between 2024 and 2033, pointing to lower demand for teachers if other policies remain unchanged (Table 7). However, as argued above, demographic trends are only one factor shaping teacher workforce needs, and their effects can vary depending on how population change is distributed across regions. Teacher workforce needs also depend on policy decisions related to class sizes, teacher attrition and funding.
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 Korea, the share of adults with tertiary attainment is above the OECD average at 58%, while the share of adults with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment is below the OECD average at 36% (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 Korea, where the share of 25-34 year-olds without upper secondary attainment decreased from 2% to 1% between 2015 and 2025 (Table A1.2).
Employment outcomes for recent tertiary graduates vary across countries and are shaped by economic conditions, labour demand, and public policy. In Korea, the unemployment rate among tertiary-educated young adults decreased from 5% in 2015 to 4% in 2025. The corresponding rates across OECD countries with available data for both years were 7% on average in 2015 and 5% in 2025 (Table A3.3. and Figure 2).
In per cent of 25-34 year-olds in the labour force
Note: The OECD average on the right is based on a fixed sample of 34 countries.
For data, see OECD (2026) Education at a Glance 2026: OECD Indicators, https://doi.org/10.1787/b4968bbc-en, Figure A3.1 and Unemployment rates of adults, by educational attainment, age group and gender (indicator), https://data-explorer.oecd.org/s/570 (accessed on 27 August 2026).
The labour-market significance of advanced qualifications is also reflected in earnings. In almost every OECD country, workers (aged 25-64) without a tertiary qualification have earnings below the national average. In Korea, full-time, full-year workers with general upper secondary as their highest level of attainment earn 18% less than the national average, those with vocational upper secondary attainment earn 15% less and those with below upper secondary attainment earn 30% less. The corresponding wage gaps on average across the OECD are 13% for general upper secondary attainment, 17% for vocational upper secondary attainment and 31% for below upper secondary attainment (Figure A4.1).
As the demand for skills in the labour market changes, participation in lifelong learning is essential for all adults. According to the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), among employed adults, younger adults (aged 25-44) are more likely to participate in non-formal education or training than older adults (aged 45-64), but differences between the age groups are often small. In Korea, 16% of 25-44 year-olds had participated in non-formal education or training over the last 12 months, compared to 15% of 45-64 year-olds. Across the OECD, average participation rates are 52% among 25-44 year-olds and 45% among 45-64 year-olds (Figure A5.2).
Participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is common among children from the age of 3 in all OECD countries. In Korea, 96% of children between the age of 3 and the starting age of primary education (age 6 in Korea) 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 Korea, 97% 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 Korea 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 Korea, there are 1.85 primary schools for each lower secondary school, similar to 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 Korea, the number of lower secondary students decreased by 1.36% annually between 2015 and 2024, while the number of lower secondary schools increased by 0.35% 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 Korea the share of outbound international students is 3%, while inbound international students average 5%. The top three destination countries for outbound students in Korea are the United States (45%), Japan (16%) and Australia (8%), while the top three origin countries of inbound students are China (43%), Viet Nam (21%) and Uzbekistan (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 Korea, the share of inbound students increased by 4 percentage points, while the share of outbound students remained the same (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 Korea, government expenditure equalled 4.1% of GDP in 2023, while private expenditure equalled 0.8% (Table C1.8).
In OECD countries with available data for both years, average government expenditure on primary to tertiary education (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 increased from 3.8% to 4.2% in Korea, thus defying the trend of declining government expenditure on education as a share of GDP (Figure 3).
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 Korea it was USD 14 521 (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 Korea, where expenditure per child aged 3-5 in 2023 was USD 12 743 compared to USD 6 888 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 15 396 in 2023 in Korea and USD 12 893 on average across the OECD. In lower secondary education, it was USD 16 944 in Korea and USD 14 291 on average across the OECD. Thus, Korea 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 Korea, 72% 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).
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. Korea is among the countries where government expenditure constitutes a smaller share of total expenditure compared to the OECD average. Government expenditure per student was USD 8 714 in 2023, corresponding to 48% 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. In Korea, the number of children enrolled in pre-primary education decreased by 34%, while the number of pre-primary teachers also decreased by 15%, resulting in an average decrease of the child-to-teacher ratio of 22% (Data for chart D2.1).
In most countries, statutory salaries of teachers with the most prevalent qualification in public institutions are lower than the earnings of similarly educated workers, especially for beginner or mid-career teachers. This is not the case in Korea. While lower secondary teachers’ statutory starting salaries are on average 24% lower than earnings of similarly educated workers, teachers can expect after 15 years of experience a statutory salary that is 29% higher than earnings of similarly educated workers. Teachers at the top of the salary scale can expect a statutory salary twice the earnings of similarly educated workers (Figure D3.6).
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 Korea, annual net teaching hours were 662 in primary education and 521 in lower secondary education. Thus, Korea was among the large majority of countries where teachers in lower secondary education had to teach fewer hours than those in primary education (Figure 4).
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 Korea is even higher at 99%. At 72%, 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. In primary education, women in Korea accounted for 77% of teachers and 52% of school management staff in 2024, a gap of 25 percentage points. This gap was larger than the OECD average of 15 percentage points (Figure D5.3).
Regular teacher appraisal as a quality assurance mechanism is common in some countries, but not in others. Korea uses an appraisal mechanism with mandatory appraisals of teachers, as do 16 out of 29 countries and economies with available data (Figure D7.1).
Appraisals of schools are more widespread than those of teachers, with school inspections being used in 24 out of 28 countries and economies with available data. Korea is among the majority of countries with a mandatory appraisal mechanism at primary or lower secondary levels (Figure D6.1).
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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.
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