UNESCO Says Global Out-of-School Population Reached 273 Million on March 25, 2026

UNESCO said on March 25, 2026, that the number of children and young people out of school worldwide reached 273 million, marking a seventh consecutive annual increase. The finding, published in the organization’s 2026 Global Education Monitoring Report, points to a broad slowdown in progress on education access across the world.

UNESCO said one in six school-age children is excluded from education. The report also found that only about two-thirds of students complete secondary school, leaving a substantial share of young people without the full secondary education pathway.

A reversal in global progress

The report says progress slowed across nearly every region since 2015. It identifies a particularly sharp slowdown in sub-Saharan Africa, a region facing significant pressure from population growth and crisis-related disruption.

The report does not say that every country experienced declining enrollment. Rather, its global and regional findings describe a weakening of overall progress, with the worldwide number of children and young people out of school continuing to rise.

UNESCO attributes the deterioration to several connected pressures: population growth, crises and shrinking education budgets. The organization’s assessment does not attribute the entire increase to aid cuts alone. Its conclusion instead describes an education-access problem shaped by demographic change, instability and reduced financial capacity.

Funding pressure adds to the risk

The new report follows warnings from UNESCO and its partners about a worsening crisis in education financing. At a high-level financing event on March 16, UNESCO cited a global out-of-school population of 250 million in 2023 and warned, based on a UNICEF projection, that six million more children could lose access to education in 2026.

UNICEF’s September 3, 2025, projection linked that possible additional loss to global funding cuts. The agency projected a $3.2 billion decline in education aid compared with 2023 and said primary education would be especially affected.

The figures describe different points in time and different types of evidence. UNESCO’s 273 million figure is the estimate reported in its 2026 monitoring report. UNICEF’s six-million figure is a projection about what could happen by the end of 2026 if funding cuts affect access. It is not a count of additional children already known to have left school.

What the figures mean for education systems

The report’s findings place access and completion problems alongside one another. Bringing children into school remains a challenge, while completion data show that attendance does not guarantee that students will reach the end of secondary education.

For governments, education providers and international financing institutions, the report’s central warning is that past gains cannot be treated as permanent. Population growth can increase the number of children who need places, teachers and funding even when enrollment systems continue to operate. Crises can further disrupt access, while shrinking budgets limit the ability to respond.

The effects are global, but UNESCO highlights sub-Saharan Africa and crisis-affected populations as areas of particular concern. The packet does not provide a full country-by-country breakdown or the precise 2026 change from the previous year, so the report’s broad global trend should not be read as an identical experience in every education system.

What comes next

UNESCO’s estimates may be revised as national data are updated. The next measurable point in the financing warning is the end of 2026, when UNICEF’s projection can be assessed against actual education access data.

Until then, the March 25 report establishes the latest reported global benchmark: 273 million children and young people out of school, after seven consecutive years of increases. It also places the education-financing debate in the context of a wider access reversal driven by more than one factor.