Kiribati

East Asia & Pacific · Lower middle income· 133K inhabitants

Last updated: May 27, 2025

Fragile/Conflict-Affected Country: This country is classified as experiencing institutional and social fragility. Data may not reflect the current situation due to instability.

Note: This country is classified as a microstate (population under 300,000) and is indexed but not included in GEFRI global or regional rankings. Microstates are excluded from rankings because their unique population size, geographic scale, and special conditions can result in atypical data patterns that may not be directly comparable with larger countries. This helps ensure that rankings are more meaningful and fair for all measured countries.

Futures readiness profile

Key insights: Kiribati

Key areas of strength for Kiribati: Human Capital (69, 96th percentile). This reflects substantial capacity for education futures readiness and may serve as models for broader policy learning or international benchmarking.

Critical gaps holding back overall readiness: Innovation (18, 3rd percentile). Addressing weak points should be prioritized, as futures readiness demands robust performance across all GEFRI dimensions, not only in select areas.

Areas of untapped potential: School Access and Gender Parity (63, 49th percentile) and Infrastructure (53, 32nd percentile). While these scores are at or near the global average, substantial progress and greater ambition are needed to drive transformation and strengthen the country’s future in education.

Composite GEFRI Score

52.36

49th percentile

Higher scores indicate greater education futures readiness

Component scores

School Access and Gender Parity63.26

Near the global average · 49th %-tile

Governance57.35

Above global avg. · 71st %-tile

Captures the effectiveness and quality of policies, regulations, and governance that shape the educational environment.

Infrastructure53.47

Near the global average · 32nd %-tile

Measures the availability and quality of basic digital and electrical infrastructure that supports education.

Human Capital69.35

Above global avg. · 96th %-tile

Assesses the educational attainment and capacity of a country’s population, focusing on access and completion at secondary and tertiary levels as well as literacy.

Innovation18.36

Below global avg. · 3rd %-tile

Reflects a country’s capacity to foster, produce, and apply new knowledge and technology in society and education.

Regional peers: East Asia & Pacific

Global rank	Regional rank	Country	Score
3	1	Korea, Rep.	80.49
4	2	Singapore	79.66
6	3	Hong Kong SAR, China	79.05
8	4	Australia	78.42
10	5	Japan	78.25
17	6	New Zealand	75.41
—	—	Northern Mariana Islands(microstate)	71.23
—	—	New Caledonia(microstate)	70.42
—	—	Guam(microstate)	69.37
—	—	American Samoa(microstate)	68.93
—	—	French Polynesia(microstate)	68.41
45	7	China	64.25
48	8	Thailand	62.96
49	9	Malaysia	62.68
57	10	Brunei Darussalam	60.96
61	11	Indonesia	59.35
63	12	Mongolia	59.27
67	13	Macao SAR, China	57.83
—	—	Palau(microstate)	57.60
—	—	Tuvalu(microstate)	57.31
70	14	Viet Nam	56.58
72	15	Fiji	56.51
74	16	Philippines	56.32
—	—	Nauru(microstate)	54.97
—	—	Kiribati(microstate)	52.36
—	—	Samoa(microstate)	51.55
—	—	Tonga(microstate)	50.38
106	17	Timor-Leste	47.76
—	—	Micronesia, Fed. Sts.(microstate)	46.58
110	18	Korea, Dem. People's Rep.	44.79
—	—	Marshall Islands(microstate)	44.62
122	19	Vanuatu	40.07
126	20	Cambodia	36.21
131	21	Myanmar	33.54
132	22	Solomon Islands	33.52
136	23	Lao PDR	31.98
150	24	Papua New Guinea	26.63