country profile

Senegal

Sub-Saharan AfricaLower middle income18.93M population

Last updated August 26, 2026

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Severely underprepared

Composite GEFRI Score

Limited relative strength in Infrastructure, with deep gaps in Access & Parity

Senegal shows severely limited readiness to meet the challenges and opportunities of education in a rapidly changing world (28th percentile worldwide). Key structural conditions limit capacity to plan, implement, and sustain forward-looking reforms.

42.87Composite score
Global percentile
28th
Global rank
#129
Regional rank
#11
Viewing data for
Progressing readiness
Infrastructure
63.85
32nd percentileGlobal avg. 70.44
Emerging readiness
Human Capital
50.85
24th percentileGlobal avg. 66.18
Severely underprepared
Innovation
33.81
27th percentileGlobal avg. 48.64
Emerging readiness
Governance
50.57
62nd percentileGlobal avg. 47.07
Critically unprepared
Access & Parity
15.28
11th percentileGlobal avg. 60.85

Country profile

Senegal faces substantial readiness constraints across core dimensions. Its weakest results are in Human Capital (51, 24th percentile), GEFRI Composite (43, 28th percentile), Innovation (34, 27th percentile) and School Access and Gender Parity (15, 11th percentile). These gaps continue to weigh on overall readiness.

Uneven scores across dimensions show where readiness conditions are less aligned. Literacy or tertiary enrollment gaps thin the talent pipeline and limit the country’s capacity to develop future-ready skills.

Sparse R&D investment and a small research workforce slow experimentation and delay new ideas from reaching learners. Regulatory quality falls short of global standards, signalling structural hurdles in policy execution. Girls outperform boys in secondary pathways, adding pressure to address male dropout risks.

Infrastructure presents a near-term leapfrog opportunity: performance is just below the global average, backed by enough observed data to support forward planning. Regionally, Senegal leads most clearly in Infrastructure, sitting well above the peer average.

Most indicators are observed rather than imputed, so estimation uncertainty is limited.

Key insights

Falls below many peers at the 28th percentile.

Places 129th worldwide.

Holds a regional position of 11th within Sub-Saharan Africa.

Scores range from Infrastructure (63.9) to Access & Parity (15.3), reflecting variation across dimensions.

Leads regional peers most clearly in Infrastructure.

Regional peers: Sub-Saharan Africa

Composite GEFRI Score

Global rankRegional rankCountryScore
611Mauritius69.13
672South Africa68.78
SeychellesMicrostate64.14
863Botswana63.01
974Namibia59.03
1005Ghana58.00
1156Eswatini49.17
1167Cabo Verde49.06
1238Rwanda44.81
1279Gambia, The43.01
12810Kenya42.93
12911Senegal42.87
13012Gabon42.59
13213Equatorial Guinea41.26
13314Cote d'Ivoire41.19
13915Zambia38.11
14016Lesotho37.98
Sao Tome and PrincipeFCSMicrostate37.69
14117Togo37.61
14418Benin36.56
14519Zimbabwe36.55
14620Tanzania35.55
14721CameroonFCS35.16
14922Mauritania34.17
15023Sierra Leone33.62
15124ComorosFCS33.36
15225Burkina FasoFCS32.56
15326Congo, Rep.FCS32.39
15427Uganda32.27
15528Angola32.18
15729NigeriaFCS31.67
15830MozambiqueFCS30.55
15931MalawiFCS30.35
16032EthiopiaFCS30.26
16133MaliFCS29.69
16234Madagascar29.63
16435Guinea28.36
16536Guinea-BissauFCS28.36
16837Liberia24.94
16938NigerFCS24.54
17039Burundi24.53
17140Congo, Dem. Rep.FCS24.39
17241SudanFCS23.03
17342EritreaFCS21.02
17443ChadFCS20.62
17544Central African RepublicFCS20.44
17645SomaliaFCS20.32
17746South SudanFCS18.91