Education in Italy Facts And Statistics 2026

Italy spent 3.9% of GDP on education in the latest OECD reporting year — 0.8 percentage points below the OECD average of 4.7%. Only 31.6% of Italians aged 25 to 34 hold a university degree, the second-lowest rate in the EU. Yet the country’s international student enrollment has grown roughly 10% per year since 2022, and early school leaving dropped from 15% to 9.8% over the past decade. This article collects the most current verified data on education in Italy as of 2026.

Education in Italy Key Statistics (2026)

• Italy’s total education spending stood at 3.9% of GDP, compared to 4.7% across the OECD, as of 2025.
• Tertiary attainment among 25-to-34-year-olds reached 31.6% in 2024 — only Romania ranked lower in the EU.
• Italian primary teachers earned 33% less than other workers with equivalent degrees, as of the 2025 OECD report.
• About 110,000 foreign students were enrolled in Italian universities, with enrollment growing ~10% per year since 2022.
• Early school leaving fell to 9.8% in 2024, down from 15% in 2014.

Education in Italy: Spending Compared to the OECD

Italy’s €79 billion education budget in 2022 was its highest on record, according to Eurostat. But as a share of GDP, spending remains well below the OECD average at every level. The gap is widest in higher education: Italy allocated just 0.3% of GDP to university-level spending, against an EU average of 0.8%.

Per-student spending tells a similar story. Italy spent $8,992 per university student in purchasing-power-adjusted dollars. The OECD average was $15,102 — a difference of more than 40%.

Government covers 94.2% of pre-tertiary education costs, above the 90.1% OECD average. That figure reflects low private investment rather than high absolute public funding.

How Much Do Teachers Earn in Italy?

Italian primary school teachers earn 33% less than other workers with the same level of education. The OECD-wide gap is 17%. Between 2015 and 2024, real teacher salaries in Italy fell by 4.4%, while the OECD average rose by 14.6%. That 19-point divergence over nine years means Italian teachers lost purchasing power as their counterparts elsewhere gained it.

Italian students receive 917 hours of instruction per year in primary school, well above the OECD’s 804 hours. More instruction time means more teachers are needed, which puts additional strain on per-teacher budgets.

Education in Italy: Tertiary Attainment Across the EU

At 31.6%, Italy’s degree-holding rate among 25-to-34-year-olds sits 12.5 percentage points below the EU average of 44.1%. The EU’s 2030 target is 45%. Reaching it would require Italy to close a 13.4-point gap in under five years — far faster than its pace over the last decade, which saw a gain of 7.4 points.

Women outperform men here: 38.5% of Italian women aged 25-34 hold a degree, compared to 25% of men. Foreign-born residents have the lowest attainment — just 14.1% for those born outside the EU.

Education in Italy PISA 2022 Performance

Italian 15-year-olds scored 482 in reading (OECD average: 476) and 471 in math (OECD: 472). Science was the weakest area at 477, eight points below average. Italy had 79% of students reaching baseline reading proficiency (Level 2+), five points above the OECD norm.

The share of top math performers (Level 5/6) was 7%, below the OECD’s 9%. The system gets most students to a baseline but has a harder time pushing high achievers further.

Early School Leaving Trends in Italy

Italy cut its early leaving rate from education and training (ELET) from 15% in 2014 to 9.8% in 2024, nearly closing the gap with the EU average of 9.3%. Boys still leave at higher rates than girls. Southern regions — Campania and Sicily in particular — report dropout rates well above the national figure.

International Students in Italy

Roughly 110,000 foreign students were enrolled at Italian universities in the most recent data, up 14% from 2019. European students made up 44% of the total, with Romania as the top source country at over 11,000 students. Asian students accounted for 31%, while African enrollment grew 53% since 2015 — the fastest-growing origin region.

Italy offered about 1,250 English-taught programmes in 2024, a 30% increase since 2019. Around 60 of the country’s 90 universities now offer degree programmes in English. Studyportals ranked Italy as the fifth-most-searched study destination globally in July 2025, with the biggest search surges coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Egypt. For anyone considering learning Italian before studying in Italy, preparation with the language can make the transition smoother.

The retention gap is real, though. Italy ranks near the bottom of the EU for keeping foreign graduates in the country, and graduate compensation remains among the lowest in the EU per the 2024 Mercer survey.

Education in Italy: STEM and Vocational Training

Only 24.7% of recent vocational education graduates in Italy had any work-based learning experience during their studies. The EU average is 65.2%. The employment rate for VET graduates was 63.7% — 16.3 points below the EU norm of 80%.

STEM enrollment stood at 25%, slightly below the EU’s 26.9% and well short of the 32% target for 2030. The ICT gap is more pronounced: 8.8% of Italian STEM students were in ICT programmes, less than half the EU average of 20.3%. Women made up just 15.7% of ICT enrolments. For those interested in Italian language and culture alongside technical studies, resources like Italian worksheets can help build a foundation.

Education in Italy: Intergenerational Mobility

Family background strongly predicts educational outcomes. A 25-to-34-year-old Italian with at least one university-educated parent has a 63% chance of earning a degree. That probability drops to 15% when neither parent completed upper secondary school — a 48-point gap, above the OECD average of 44.

The tracking system reinforces this. Over 70% of students from general secondary schools (licei) proceed to higher education, while fewer than 15% from vocational tracks do the same.

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