Goal 4 · People
Quality education
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
- Canada’s rating
- Challenges remain
- Stagnating
- Canada’s goal score
- 94.3/ 100
- −3.9 points since 2015; 6th in the G7
- G7 countries improving
- 0 of 7
- None decreasing
- G7 achieved or with challenges remaining
- 3 of 7
- 4 significant, 0 major challenges
How the G7 compare
Goal 4 score, 2005–2025
Score out of 100 on the globally comparable indicators. Canada is the thick line. Dashed: OECD and all-country averages.
Indicator by indicator
The goal colour is driven by each country’s two worst indicators, so read the whole row before judging a country.
Goal 4 indicators for the G7
Latest value, with the rating colour and trend arrow. Hover a cell for the year of the data. ◆ marks indicators about effects on other countries (spillovers); † marks OECD dashboard indicators that are not in the SDG Index score.
| Indicator | Green threshold | Canada | France | Germany | Italy | Japan | United Kingdom | United States |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participation rate in pre-primary organized learning (% of children aged 4 to 6) | 90 | 93.3 | 99.8 | 98.4 | 95.2 | 94.8 | 98.6 | 86.5 |
| Net primary enrollment rate (%) | 97 | 95 | 99.8 | 99.7 | 97.9 | 99.9 | 99.9 | 96 |
| Lower secondary completion rate (%) | 90 | 98.9 | 98.4 | 92.4 | 99.2 | – | 99.9 | 98.8 |
| Literacy rate (% of population aged 15 to 24) | 95 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 99.9 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Tertiary educational attainment (% of population aged 25 to 34) † | 40 | 67 | 51.9 | 38.4 | 30.6 | – | 49.4 | 50.4 |
| PISA score (worst 0-600 best) † | 490 | 506 | 478 | 482 | 477 | 533 | 494 | 489 |
| Variation in mathematics performance explained by socio-economic status (%) † | 10.5 | 10.2 | 21.5 | 18.7 | 13.5 | 11.9 | 11 | 14.9 |
| Underachievers in mathematics (% of 15-year-olds) † | 15 | 21.6 | 28.8 | 29.5 | 29.6 | 12 | 24.3 | 33.9 |
Explore one indicator over time
Net primary enrollment rate (%)
The percentage of children of the official school age population who are enrolled in primary education.
Loading…
The rest of the world
Goal 4 score around the world, 2025
Goal score out of 100 (globally comparable indicators). G7 countries are outlined.
G7 countries are outlined; Canada has the thickest outline.
Workshop questions
Which G7 country has the highest Goal 4 score, and which has the lowest? Do their dashboard colours tell the same story as their scores?
Show a hint
Colours come from each country’s two worst indicators, while the score is the average of all indicators in the index.
Which G7 countries saw PISA mathematics underachievement rise? What could explain it, and why should you be cautious comparing 2018 with 2022?
Is a high tertiary attainment rate always a sign of progress on Goal 4? What does the indicator leave out?
For Canada, find the oldest data point among this goal’s indicators. How might an old value change the colour or arrow you see?
Pick one indicator where Canada is stagnating. Use the Trend lab to calculate the annual change needed to reach the green threshold by 2030, and compare it with Canada’s pace since 2015.