The Best Countries for Education Rankings 2023

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." — Nelson Mandela

While education levels vary from country to country, there is a clear correlation between the quality of a country's educational system and its general economic status and overall well-being. In general, developing nations tend to offer their citizens a higher quality of education than the least developed nations do, and fully developed nations offer the best quality of education of all. Education is clearly a vital contributor to any country's overall health.

Best Countries for Education rankings

According to the Global Partnership for Education, education is considered to be a human right and plays a crucial role in human, social, and economic development. Education promotes gender equality, fosters peace, and increases a person's chances of having more and better life and career opportunities.

The annual Best Countries Report, conducted by US News and World Report, BAV Group, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, reserves an entire section for education. The report surveys thousands of people across 78 countries, then ranks those countries based upon the survey's responses. 

The education portion of the survey compiles scores from three equally-weighted attributes: a well-developed public education system, would consider attending university there, and provides top-quality education. As of 2021, the top ten countries based on education rankings are:

North American and European countries are seen as offering the best opportunities for education.

The Top 5 Countries for Education At a time when information has increasingly become one of the world’s most valued goods and services, education can serve as a strong indicator of a country’s overall strength and standing.

The 2022 Best Countries for Education rankings are drawn from a global survey of more than 17,000 people and highlight countries based on respondents’ perceptions of them in relation to whether they have a well-developed public education system, whether people would consider attending university there and if that country has top-quality universities. The same global survey, encompassing dozens of additional country attributes, is used to compile the overall 2022 Best Countries rankings from U.S. News.

These are the top five countries for education, according to the perceptions of survey respondents.

No. 5: France

Education in France is based on a national curriculum and is compulsory beginning at age 3 through age 16. Higher education at public universities is mostly funded by the government.

According to 2018 data on 15-year-olds from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Program for International Student Assessment, French students scored slightly above the overall average among OECD countries in the three domains of reading, math and science.

Learn more about France.

No. 4: Canada

Public education in Canada is free. Children can begin primary school as young as age 4, and must attend school until they are 16 or 18, depending on the province or territory.

Canada also is home to some of the top universities in the world, and Canadian students scored well above average in reading, math and science on the OECD’s 2018 Program for International Student Assessment, which evaluates academic performance among 15-year-olds.

Learn more about Canada.

No. 3: Germany

The birthplace of the concept of kindergarten, most children in German between the ages of 3 and 6 attend class at that level before compulsory school attendance begins at age 6.

Primary school typically lasts for four grades, after which most students follow various tracks of secondary education, such as the Hauptschule, or general school, which provides basic secondary education and often a path to vocational training. A Gymnasium school, meanwhile, is geared toward university enrollment.

German students scored above the OECD average in reading, math and science on the OECD’s 2018 Program for International Student Assessment.

Learn more about Germany.

No. 2: United Kingdom

Compulsory education for most students within the United Kingdom begins at age 5. The requirement generally culminates in connection with a student’s 16th birthday, though students in England face additional mandates until age 18.

U.K. students had above-average scores in math, reading and science on the OECD’s 2018 Program for International Student Assessment. The United Kingdom also is home to two of the top 10 Best Global Universities.

Learn more about the United Kingdom.

No. 1: United States

The U.S. repeats as the No. 1 best country for education in 2022. The public education system in the country is funded largely through state and local taxes, with students required to begin compulsory education as young as age 5 and progress through at least age 16, depending on the state.

Of the 2.7 million U.S. students ages 16 to 24 who graduated from high school between January and October of 2021, nearly 62% were enrolled in a college or university in October of 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The U.S. is home to eight of the top 10 Best Global Universities, according to U.S. News.

U.S. students had above-average scores in reading and science on the OECD’s 2018 Program for International Student Assessment, but scored below the OECD average in math.

Learn more about the United States.