2026 GEM Report: Access and equity

Time is running out. 2030 is around the corner. Yet 273 million children and youth are still out of school. The clock is counting down for us to help children learn and we have less than 5 years left to reach our global education goal SDG 4. Every two seconds, one more child needs to enter school just to stay on track. But the idea that progress is not possible no longer holds. The 2026 Global Education Monitoring Report explores how access to education can be accelerated in the final stretch to 2030. The challenge is clear. But so is the evidence of what works. Across the world, the report tells the stories of countries proving that access can expand at scale. Their journeys remind us: when equity is prioritized, when policies are sustained, and when systems focus on those furthest behind, change is possible. It calls for a renewed focus on listening to countries’ stories of change. By focusing on their paths to success, we can find new solutions for others. Because every education story matters. Join Eliud Kipchoge, SEVENTEEN and Claire Danes in sharing yours using #YourStoryCounts.

The SDG 4 Scorecard assesses the probability of countries achieving their national education targets. In total, 80% of countries have submitted benchmark values for at least one of eight SDG 4 benchmark indicators. 

The 2025 SDG 4 Scorecard focuses on the out‑of‑school rate showing that countries have collectively committed to reduce their out-of-school population by 165 million by 2030. However, it is projected that by 2025 countries will be off track by four percentage points among those of primary and lower secondary school age and by six percentage points among those of upper secondary school age. In total, this means that, already by 2025, countries will be off-track by 75 million relative to their national targets.

This Scorecard shows that the challenge they face is also larger than previously thought. The global out-of-school population is now estimated to have been 272 million in 2023, 21 million more than the last estimate, based on the UIS and GEM Report model results.