UNESCO projects that the world needs 44 million additional primary and secondary teachers by 2030, while about one in five current teachers does not meet national minimum qualification standards.
Updated October 15, 2026. Written from the sources listed below, not independently peer-reviewed.
In 2015, about 4.6% of primary school teachers worldwide left the profession in a given year. What was this attrition rate by 2022?
44 million
Additional teachers needed by 2030
Primary and secondary level combined; a UNESCO projection based on 2022 data. About 31 million of them are needed at secondary level.
Data year 2022. Source: UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, 2024
About 1 in 5
Teachers below national minimum qualifications
18 to 21% of teachers worldwide, depending on the level of education; pre-primary is the most affected.
Data year 2024. Source: United Nations Statistics Division, 2026
9%
Primary teachers leaving the profession each year
Up from 4.6% in 2015. Estimate based on attrition data from 79 countries.
Data year 2022. Source: UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, 2024
Selected years from the regional series of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published by the World Bank; 2022 is the latest regional value. Regional figures are estimates that depend on which countries report and on national training standards. The share fell sharply in the 2000s, when enrolment expanded quickly, and has recovered only slightly since 2015.
Target 4.c calls for a substantial increase in the supply of qualified teachers by 2030. The UN's 2026 progress report finds that the share of teachers meeting national minimum standards has changed little, with modest gains in primary education, almost none in secondary, and the largest gaps in sub-Saharan Africa and in pre-primary education.
Sub-Saharan Africa needs about 15 million additional teachers by 2030, a third of the global total. Only 69% of its primary teachers met minimum qualifications in 2022, down from 75% in 2010.
Source: UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, 2024In 2022 each trained primary teacher in sub-Saharan Africa served about 56 pupils on average, compared with about 15 in high-income countries.
Source: UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, 2024Pre-primary education has the largest qualification gaps of any level. In sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and small island developing states, fewer than three in four pre-primary teachers are qualified.
Source: UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, 2024Pay is a common weakness: half of all countries pay primary teachers less than other professions that require similar qualifications, and in 20 sub-Saharan African countries teachers earn on average less than US$7,500 a year in purchasing power parity terms.
Source: UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, 2024Each country is shaded by its latest available value, so you can see where the gap is widest. Hover or tap a country, search for one, or open the full table.
Loading country values…
Share of primary school teachers who have not completed the minimum teacher training required in their country, calculated as 100 minus the share of trained teachers. It shows the latest year available per country since 2015 (most values are from 2023 to 2025). Each country sets its own training standard, so a low share can mean a low bar and very high shares can reflect how a country classifies training; many countries report every teacher as trained, and large gaps in the data remain.
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, via World Bank Open Data. Latest year available per country; years differ.
Values load from World Bank Open Data. Simplified Natural Earth borders; they imply no position on disputed territories.
Instead of one “percent solved” score, DO GOOD rates three separate dimensions. A problem can have mature solutions that still reach too few people. These ratings are an editorial reading of the sources on this page, not a measured index.
Has the situation improved in the real world?
LowAbout one in five teachers still falls short of national minimum qualifications, primary attrition roughly doubled between 2015 and 2022, and the share of trained primary teachers in sub-Saharan Africa is lower than in 2000.
How mature and validated are the available solutions?
ModerateThe main levers, such as competitive pay, better working conditions, induction and mentoring, and expanded teacher education, are well understood. But UNESCO notes that most countries do not assess whether their professional development programmes are cost-effective.
How widely are effective solutions actually used?
LowHalf of all countries pay primary teachers less than comparable professions, and even in OECD countries only 22% of new teachers reported having a mentor, according to OECD data published in 2019.
The 44 million figure is a model-based projection, the global attrition estimate rests on data from 79 countries, and qualification shares follow national definitions that cannot be compared directly. UNESCO itself notes that how shortages are measured is under-researched.
The global share of qualified teachers has barely moved, while attrition has risen and fast-growing school-age populations keep raising the number of teachers needed.
Children learn most when they are taught by a teacher who is present, prepared and supported. Yet many school systems cannot recruit or keep enough such teachers. UNESCO projects that 44 million additional primary and secondary teachers are needed worldwide by 2030, about 58% of them to replace teachers who leave and the rest to fill new posts as enrolment grows. At the same time, roughly one in five teachers already in classrooms does not meet the minimum qualifications set by their own country, a share that has barely changed in recent years. This page looks at the teaching workforce itself; the wider question of whether children get into school and learn is covered on the education access page.
The shortage is deepest in sub-Saharan Africa, which alone needs about 15 million more teachers and where the share of qualified primary teachers has fallen since 2010. Rural and remote schools find it hardest to attract staff, so pupil-teacher ratios differ widely within countries, and pre-primary education has the largest qualification gaps of any level. Rich countries are not exempt: rising attrition and a profession that competes poorly with other careers drive shortages in Europe and Northern America. When posts go unfilled, classes grow, untrained or short-term contract teachers fill the gaps, and learning suffers for the children who can least afford it.
SDG target 4.c asks countries to substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers by 2030, including through international cooperation on teacher training. UNESCO and its partners describe the shortage with several measures:
Teachers needed
A projection of how many additional teachers are required to give every child of primary and secondary school age a place with a reasonable number of pupils per teacher by 2030. It combines new posts for growing enrolment with replacements for teachers who leave.
Qualified teachers (SDG 4.c.1)
The share of teachers who have the minimum academic qualifications required to teach at their level. Because each country sets its own standard, the indicator shows compliance with national rules, not a single global benchmark.
Trained teachers
The share of teachers who have completed the minimum organised teacher training, before or during service, required in their country. A teacher can hold an academic degree without pedagogical training, so trained and qualified shares can differ.
Attrition and ratios
The attrition rate is the share of teachers who leave the profession in a year. Pupil-teacher and pupil-trained teacher ratios show how many students each teacher, or each trained teacher, has to serve.
What works
Paying teachers on a par with other graduate professions makes teaching a realistic career choice and helps keep experienced staff. UNESCO identifies pay below comparable professions, which applies to half of all countries at primary level, as a reason teaching struggles to attract candidates.
Limits
In low- and lower-middle-income countries about 75% of education spending already goes on teachers' costs, so raises compete with every other need. In high-income countries most leavers move to other jobs in education, often for less money, so pay alone does not stop attrition.
What works
Manageable workloads, professional autonomy, decent school facilities and a voice in decisions make teachers more likely to stay. UNESCO links excessive workloads and isolation to burnout and attrition, and counts basic facilities such as adequate sanitation as an investment in recruitment and retention.
Limits
Improvements cost money and take years to change how attractive the profession looks. Gains in one area, such as smaller workloads, can be undone by rising enrolment if no new posts are funded.
What works
Structured support in the first years, when many teachers leave, helps beginners cope and stay. UNESCO describes induction and mentoring as key elements in retaining teachers.
Limits
Coverage is thin even in rich countries: in OECD data published in 2019 nearly 40% of new teachers reported some induction and only 22% had a mentor. Programmes need experienced teachers with time set aside to mentor.
What works
More places in teacher training institutions, combined with in-service routes, raise the number of qualified candidates, which is essential where enrolment is growing fastest, as in sub-Saharan Africa.
Limits
Expanding too fast risks lowering standards; UNESCO stresses the need to balance more training places with making sure new recruits are properly trained. Graduates still have to be persuaded to work in rural and remote schools.
What works
International benchmarks ask countries to spend 4 to 6% of GDP or 15 to 20% of public spending on education. One estimate cited by UNESCO suggests that a 1 percentage point rise in education spending relative to GDP could fund around 8 million new teachers in low-income countries.
Limits
Many low-income countries collect little tax relative to GDP, and debt service and aid cuts squeeze budgets, so funding for new posts is often the first to be delayed.
Promising, but not proven at scale. The stage shows how far each approach has come; it is not a recommendation.
Many systems fill gaps with short-term contract teachers, who are often younger, undertrained and underpaid. UNESCO recommends flexible structures that let them gain full qualifications while working. How well such routes work at national scale is not yet well documented.
Instead of one-off workshops, countries are trying to link training across a teacher's whole career. This is the theme of the second UNESCO Global Report on Teachers, due in November 2026. Evidence on which models are cost-effective is still limited.
Online courses and digital tools, including AI assistants for lesson planning, are being tested to reduce workload and reach teachers in remote areas. Many teachers report not having been trained in digital skills, and the effect on retention and learning is unproven.
Some countries are building data systems that track teacher numbers, qualifications, deployment and departures to forecast shortages school by school. UNESCO and the UN call stronger data systems essential, as the costs of turnover are rarely measured.
Implementation gap
Primary teacher attrition roughly doubled from 4.6% in 2015 to about 9% in 2022, and many teachers leave within their first five years, regardless of a country's income level.
Implementation gap
About 75% of education spending in low- and lower-middle-income countries already goes on teachers' costs, and low tax revenues leave little room to create the extra posts that growing enrolment requires.
Coordination gap
Qualified teachers concentrate in towns and better-off areas. Recruiting for rural and remote schools is hard, which leaves large differences in pupil-teacher ratios within countries and needs incentives, housing and career rules that cut across ministries.
Implementation gap
Hiring contract teachers fills classrooms quickly, but they are often undertrained and underpaid, which can lower teaching quality and makes the profession less attractive to qualified candidates.
Technology gap
Teachers report a lack of adequate training in information and communication technology, and many schools in poorer countries lack the electricity and connectivity that digital support for teachers depends on.
Knowledge gap
Global attrition estimates rest on data from only 79 countries at primary level, qualification standards differ by country, and the costs of teacher turnover are rarely measured.
Unresolved questions, not vetted breakthroughs. Answering any of them would change what is possible.
Which mix of pay, workload, autonomy, school leadership and status best explains early departures in different countries, and which changes actually keep teachers in post?
How can qualification and training standards be compared across countries so that the global indicator reflects teaching competence rather than differing national rules?
Which forms of in-service training and coaching improve teaching and retention at reasonable cost when run by governments at scale, given that few countries evaluate their programmes?
Can digital tools and AI reduce teachers' workload and support those in remote schools without lowering the quality of teaching or making the profession less attractive?
When you donate to education, look for groups that invest in training, coaching and fair pay for teachers in the communities they serve and that report on how long teachers stay.
Take part in school life, treat teachers as professionals and support parent and community efforts that ease their workload. Low status is one of the reasons the profession struggles to attract people.
If you have relevant skills, look into teacher training routes or volunteer mentoring and tutoring programmes run by schools or established organisations.
Ask your elected representatives how much your country spends on education at home and on education aid abroad, and whether teacher posts and training are protected.
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UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 (dated 2023, launched February 2024), published 2024
First global report on the teaching workforce. Source of the 44 million projection and its regional split, attrition rates for 2015 and 2022, qualification shares, pupil-trained teacher ratios, pay comparisons, induction and mentoring coverage, and policy recommendations.
United Nations Statistics Division (data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics), published 2026
Official SDG progress report. Source of the 2024 estimate that 18 to 21% of teachers do not meet national minimum qualifications, regional gaps and the status of target 4.c.
World Bank Open Data (data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published February 2026), published 2026
Regional and country series of the share of trained primary teachers. Source of the sub-Saharan Africa trend (2000 to 2022) and the world map.
International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030 (UNESCO), published 2026
Announcement of the second edition of the Global Report on Teachers, on teacher professional development through lifelong learning, to be launched in Addis Ababa on 23 to 25 November 2026.