Sub-Saharan Africa faces the biggest shortage, with 40 countries struggling to fill teaching positions in secondary schools.
Europe & Northern America (33 countries) and Latin America & the Caribbean (29 countries) are also at risk, showing that the teacher crisis isn’t just a developing-world issue.
Eastern Asia and Central Asia don’t have a single country expected to have enough secondary school teachers, indicating a major educational gap in these regions.
The impact of teacher shortages goes beyond education—overcrowded classrooms, exhausted teachers, and declining educational quality will harm future economic and workforce development.
Solving this crisis requires urgent action, from better teacher training to improved salaries and working conditions to attract more people to the profession.
Sub-Saharan Africa faces the most severe teacher shortage, needing over 15 million educators by 2030, more than any other region.
Southern Asia has the second-highest demand, requiring 7.78 million teachers, highlighting a major education gap in fast-growing economies.
Europe & Northern America also need 4.83 million teachers, proving that even developed regions struggle with teacher shortages.
South-Eastern Asia (4.54M), Northern Africa & Western Asia (4.26M), and Eastern Asia (3.28M) are all battling significant shortages, showing a global education crisis.
Even smaller regions like Oceania (0.28M) and Central Asia (0.75M) require thousands of teachers, emphasising that no region is immune to this issue.
If action isn’t taken now, millions of children will face overcrowded classrooms and lower educational quality, potentially stunting economic growth and workforce readiness for future generations.
In 2024, the top ten universities in Nigeria graduated 3,047 first-class students. Seventeen per cent of private university students in Nigeria earned first-class degrees, compared to 3% in federal/state universities.
The University of Benin convocated the most first-class students (385), while the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) had the least, with 122.
Covenant University had the highest proportion, with one in five students graduating with a first class.
Ogun State is the top location for private universities, with 16 universities, while the top eight states collectively account for 50% of Nigeria's 149 private universities. Bauchi and Yobe are the only states with no private universities.
As of 2024, 149 private universities are accredited by the National Universities Commission. Southern Nigeria houses 62%, with the South West leading at 47 universities, while the North East has the fewest, with just 5 (3%).
Bayelsa, Gombe, and Katsina States have the fewest accredited universities — five each — of the 274 in Nigeria in 2024. Ogun leads with 19, followed closely by Abuja (17) and Delta (15).
Nomadic primary school enrolment in Nigeria remains most prevalent in the North West, with over 503,000 children enroled in 2021, significantly higher than any other region. Enrolment numbers have shown gradual improvement across most regions.
Nearly one in two accredited universities in Nigeria is located in the South West or North Central. The South West has the highest number of private and federal universities, with a total of 71 universities, while the North East has the fewest, with 21 universities.
The University of Ibadan remained Nigeria's only university for twelve years before the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was established in 1960. Eleven universities followed between 1962 and 1975, increasing the number to 13 federal government-owned universities.
The first state university was established in Rivers State in 1979, marking the beginning of the displacement of the federal government's ownership monopoly. Six state and nine federal universities were added in the 1980s, with four federal universities added in 1988, the year of the first Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.
While state-owned universities have grown steadily, slightly outpacing those owned by the federal government, private universities have displaced both, increasing from three institutions in 1999 to 33 in 2007, 60 in 2015, and 149 in 2024. There are now more private universities than federal and state universities combined.
Nigeria occupies the 30th spot globally in the English Proficiency Index, achieving a score of 557, just behind Kenya (581) and South Africa (594). As one of Africa's linguistic leaders, this ranking highlights Nigeria’s strength in English proficiency, a vital skill driving communication, business, and education across the continent.
This data comes from the EF English Proficiency Index, which aggregated the test results of 2.2m adults from 113 countries and regions. Countries where English is the primary native spoken language are not included in this ranking. Ranks are determined by each country’s average score in the EF Standard English Test (EF SET).
