Moroccan students remained the largest group of international students arriving in France in 2024, accounting for 12% of the country’s inbound international student population, according to a new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The OECD’s Education at a Glance 2026, released Sept. 29, said Morocco also held the top position in 2015. In 2024, Algeria ranked second with 10%, followed by China at 8%, Senegal at 5% and Tunisia at 4%. Senegal entered France’s top five sources, replacing Italy.
Morocco was also among the five largest sources of international students in Belgium in 2024, accounting for 3% of the total. France was the leading source at 35%, followed by the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Cameroon.
The report also highlighted widespread teacher shortages across OECD education systems. In Latvia and Luxembourg, about 4% of secondary teaching positions were unfilled at the start of the 2024-25 school year. Across the OECD, 9.1% of primary and secondary teachers were not fully qualified, with the proportion exceeding 18% in Chile, Denmark, Estonia and Germany.
Teacher absences were also significant in some countries. The share of teachers absent for more than two months during the 2024-25 school year reached 11% in Austria and 9% in South Korea, according to the report.
Despite the staffing pressures, 85% of teachers across OECD countries said they were satisfied with their jobs. In Japan, teachers were 20 percentage points more likely than workers in other professions to report being satisfied with their jobs, while in Chile they were 21 percentage points less likely.
The OECD projects that the number of children aged 5 to 14 across its member countries will decline by 9% between 2024 and 2033. At the same time, the number of teachers in primary schools increased by 13% between 2015 and 2024, while primary student numbers rose by 2%, reflecting differences in class sizes, working hours and instruction time.
The report also found that 25% of secondary teachers are aged 55 or older, underscoring the demographic pressures facing education systems as younger cohorts shrink and older teachers approach retirement.
On the labor market, unemployment among 25- to 34-year-olds with tertiary education increased by 0.4 percentage points on average across OECD countries with available data between 2023 and 2025. Over the same period, unemployment among young adults with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education declined by 0.2 percentage points. The OECD described the increase among tertiary-educated young adults as a recent shift, although their average unemployment rate remained lower, at 5% in 2025.
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