Education System Statistics in Canada

Canada is internationally recognised for having one of the best education systems in the world. The Canadian government sets the educational standards for the whole country and then the thirteen provinces and territories are responsible for implementing them in their legislations.

We have included a brief introduction to the Canadian education system for any readers unfamiliar with it before delving into the statistics. In this article, you will find statistics on the number of schools and students in Canada, funding, attendance, and tuition fees among other key information.

Education System Statistics for Canadians

• In 2025, Canada had around 14,263 schools and 436 post-secondary educational facilities.
• The public and private education expenditure was $95.0 billion in 2022-23.
• Over 32% of post-secondary education funding comes from the government.
• There were around 5.5 million public primary and elementary school pupils in Canada in the 2023-23 academic year.
• Over 90% of Canadian elementary and secondary students attend public schools.
• The average cost of undergraduate programmes is $7,734  in the 2025-26 academic year.
• The average salary for teachers in Canada is $93,700.
• 95% of Canadians had a high school diploma or higher in 2024.
• Canada is one of the highest‑scoring countries overall in PISA’s mathematics, reading and science assessments.

Education System in Canada

School in Canada is mandatory from the age of five or six depending on the province/territory. However, the majority of Canadian children attend preschool before starting at grade one. Pre-school is mandatory in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Education is mandatory until the age of sixteen and finishes with grade eleven or twelve, again depending on the system in the province/territory. Students then have the choice to attend higher education at a university or a college.

Educational Stages

The primary stage in Canada starts with grade one when children are generally six or seven years old depending on their date of birth. The last grade in elementary school is grade six after which students move to secondary education.

There are two levels of secondary education in Canada which are junior high school and high school. Junior high school covers the first two years of secondary education, which are grades seven and eight. High school is the final part of students’ secondary education in Canada and covers the final four years of mandatory education.

Students will be sixteen to eighteen years old at the end of the mandatory education, depending on their personal circumstances and the province/territory they are in. By law, students have to stay in school until they are sixteen years old regardless of the grade they are in. However, in Ontario and New Brunswick, the law states students need to stay in school until they turn eighteen or have earned their high school diploma.

Post-secondary education in Canada covers a range of colleges and universities. While some students will go to university, others will attend college before entering the workforce or to prepare themselves for university. University courses start with bachelor’s degree courses and advance to master’s degrees and finally to PhDs.

Cost of Education in Canada

Even though the education systems have slight differences across the Canadian provinces and territories, they all offer free education until the final grade of high school. While colleges and universities are not free, there are many subsidies to ensure students from all backgrounds have the opportunity for post-secondary education. You will find further information on fees a little later in the article.

Number of Educational Facilities in Canada

In 2024/2025, Canada had around 5.5 million students enrolled in elementary and secondary schools, up from earlier years and marking one of the largest enrolment totals on record. Public schools continue to make up the vast majority of these enrolments. The total number of public school locations in Canada was approximately 14,263 in 2025, covering schools from kindergarten through secondary.

The approximately 2.3 million post‑secondary students in Canada in the 2023/2024 academic year can choose from a wide range of institutions, including public colleges, institutes and universities. In addition, there are around 2,000 private and independent schools in Canada from kindergarten to high school, providing education outside the public system.

Expenditure of the Canadian Education System

According to the latest Statistics Canada data, in the 2022/2023 academic year, the total combined public and private education expenditure in Canada was approximately $95.9 billion, spent across all levels of the education system. Provincial and territorial governments were the main source of funding for elementary and secondary education in that year

Revenue for Post-Secondary Institutions

The largest revenue source, at about 32.4% in 2023/2024, for post‑secondary institutions in Canada was government funding. Approximately 30.1% of the revenue came from student fees and the remainder came from bequests, nongovernmental grants, donations, sales of products and services, and investments. In total, the revenue for post‑secondary institutions was about $70.9 billion in the 2023/2024 academic year.

Attendance

While attending preschool is not compulsory in most Canadian provinces and territories, approximately 97% of Canadian children attend preschool. In the academic year 2023‑24, there were about 5.5 million public primary and elementary school pupils in Canada.

There has been a slight decline in student numbers since the peak in the early 2010s, when enrolment reached around 5.6 million pupils. The lowest numbers were in 2011‑2014, when around 4.72 million pupils attended public elementary and secondary education. 

Around 98% of pupils who attend primary education in Canada will move on to secondary level. The graduation rate from secondary school was 88% in the 2023‑24 academic year. The percentage was higher for girls at 90% compared to boys at 86%.

Most Canadian Elementary and Secondary Students Are in Public Schools

The vast majority of Canadian students are attending public schools. In 2023/24, about 91% of Canadian elementary and secondary education students were at public schools, around 7.7% attend private and independent schools, and approximately 1.2% are home‑schooled. Home‑schooling remains the least common form of schooling, and its proportion has declined from its peak during the pandemic years.

Post-Secondary Attendance

According to Statista, the number of students in post-secondary education in Canada has seen steady year-on-year increases. In 2000, there were 1.34 million students in post-secondary education, and in 2021 that number had risen to 2.17 million.

In 2019, there were approximately 1,090,000 full-time students attending universities and 266,000 part-time students. At the end of the 2017-18 academic year, universities in Canada awarded around 197,830 bachelor’s degrees, 65,706 awards were master’s degrees and 7,923 doctoral degrees.

In 2018-19, there were more than 795,000 students enrolled in Canadian colleges and institutions, which was a record-breaking number. In the previous academic year, more than 246,000 students completed their college or institution studies. While the number of students in postsecondary educational facilities has increased, the number of apprenticeships has decreased. There were 455,000 apprenticeship registrations in 2015 compared to 400,000 in 2019. The largest group of apprentices are electricians with more than 68,000 registrations.

University Fees in Canada

The average cost of undergraduate programmes in Canada was about $7,734 for Canadian students in the 2025/2026 academic year, while international students had to pay more with the annual fees averaging around $41,746. Post‑secondary students in Canada can receive grants and education tax credits and take out student loans to support their education.

Cost of Private Schools in Canada

While primary and secondary education is free in Canada, some Canadian parents choose to enter their child/ren into a private school. The cost of yearly fees for private schools ranges from around $4,000 to $26,000, depending on the age of the child, location, and how prestigious the school is.

Education and Salaries

On average, Canadians who have an undergraduate degree compared to a college-level diploma are on higher incomes five years after graduation. The median income was $49,000 five years after graduating college with a diploma compared to $64,000 for undergraduate degree graduates five years after graduation.

Employment

There were about 422,000 educators across Canadian elementary and secondary schools in 2023‑24. This was a 0.7% increase from the previous academic year. This increase was driven by the number of educators in public schools going up by approximately 0.8%, while the number of educators in private schools decreased. In 2024/25, there were just over 49,000 full-time employees in Canadian universities.

Average Salaries in Education

According to Salary Explorer, the average annual salary for teachers in Canada is around $93,700, with a range of $48,700 at the lower end to about $143,000 at the higher end. However, the median salary in Canada is $85,200, meaning that half of the teachers in Canada earn less. Only about 5% of teachers in Canada earn more than $84,800.

Canada Has High Educational Levels

Compared to a range of other countries by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Canada compares very favourably in the number of adults who have at least the minimum high school education. In 2024, about 95% of Canadian adults had a high school diploma or higher, which is higher than the OECD average.

Canada also has a high share of adults with a tertiary education (a bachelor’s degree or higher). In 2024, around 63–67% of Canadians aged 25–34 had attained tertiary education, placing Canada among the countries with the highest tertiary attainment.

British Columbians are the most likely to have at least a secondary school diploma while Nunavut has the lowest share of adults with high school diplomas.

Canada Performs Well in International Comparisons

According to the World Top 20 Projects, Canada ranks among the top performing education systems in the world for its education outcomes. The top performers in the latest international assessments include Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and Chinese Taipei, with Canada also ranked highly and outperforming the OECD average in key subjects. Canada is one of the highest‑scoring countries overall in PISA’s mathematics, reading and science assessments, often placing within the top 10–15 globally.

In the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), comparing 15‑year‑old students, Canadians scored above the OECD average in reading literacy. In the 2022 PISA results, the average point score for reading was about 507 points, above the OECD average.

In mathematics, Canadian students scored around 497 points, which was higher than the OECD average. Boys scored slightly higher than girls in mathematics overall.

The average Canadian score in science was about 515 points, also above the OECD average. Performance differences by gender in science were small.

Conclusion

Canada has one of the best education systems in the world. Ensuring equal access and high standards across the country means that Canada regularly performs well in international comparisons.

Canada’s public schools offer education to over 90% of Canadian children with the others attending private schools or being home-schooled. 

With a continued focus on the education system, Canada can continue as one of the leaders in education worldwide and ensure a high standard of education for generations to come.