El Salvador
Last updated December 1, 2025
Composite GEFRI Score
Severely underprepared
El Salvador is severely underprepared (31st percentile worldwide). Key structural conditions limit capacity to plan, implement, and sustain forward-looking reforms. Higher scores indicate a system that is better prepared to anticipate and shape the future of learning.
- Global percentile
- 31st
- Global rank
- #123
- Regional rank
- #22
- Viewing data for
Country profile
El Salvador trails global peers in Innovation (32, 26th percentile) and School Access and Gender Parity (5, 13th percentile). A coordinated reform effort is needed to strengthen education futures readiness.
Wide gaps between dimensions reveal structural weaknesses that slow coordinated progress. 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.
Governance and Human Capital present a near-term leapfrog opportunity: performance is just below the global average, backed by enough observed data to support forward planning. Regionally, School Access and Gender Parity lags peers the most, signalling where investment could have the highest impact.
Note: Most indicators rely on observed data, offering a dependable evidence base for decisions.
Key insights
- Falls below many peers at the 31st percentile.
- Places 123rd worldwide.
- Holds a regional position of 22nd within Latin America & Caribbean .
- Scores range from Infrastructure (60.5) to Access & Parity (5.0), reflecting variation across dimensions.
- Trails regional peers most clearly in Access & Parity.
Regional peers: Latin America & Caribbean
Composite GEFRI score
| Global rank | Regional rank | Country | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | 1 | Chile | 69.86 |
| 41 | 2 | Argentina | 63.78 |
| 46 | 3 | Uruguay | 62.23 |
| — | — | Cayman IslandsMicrostate | 60.65 |
| — | — | Antigua and BarbudaMicrostate | 57.78 |
| 67 | 4 | Peru | 56.70 |
| — | — | GrenadaMicrostate | 56.16 |
| — | — | St. Kitts and NevisMicrostate | 55.76 |
| 74 | 5 | Colombia | 54.99 |
| — | — | Turks and Caicos IslandsMicrostate | 54.87 |
| — | — | CuracaoMicrostate | 54.63 |
| 75 | 6 | Mexico | 54.62 |
| 80 | 7 | Cuba | 52.99 |
| 81 | 8 | Brazil | 52.92 |
| — | — | BarbadosMicrostate | 52.49 |
| 84 | 9 | Puerto Rico (US) | 52.36 |
| — | — | DominicaMicrostate | 52.30 |
| 88 | 10 | Ecuador | 50.82 |
| — | — | St. LuciaMicrostate | 50.58 |
| 92 | 11 | Dominican Republic | 50.53 |
| 94 | 12 | Bolivia | 49.89 |
| 96 | 13 | Costa Rica | 49.46 |
| — | — | St. Vincent and the GrenadinesMicrostate | 48.23 |
| 101 | 14 | Jamaica | 47.64 |
| — | — | Virgin Islands (U.S.)Microstate | 47.33 |
| 102 | 15 | Bahamas, The | 47.10 |
| 103 | 16 | Panama | 46.77 |
| — | — | ArubaMicrostate | 46.66 |
| — | — | St. Martin (French part)Microstate | 46.21 |
| 105 | 17 | Belize | 46.05 |
| — | — | British Virgin IslandsMicrostate | 45.79 |
| — | — | Sint Maarten (Dutch part)Microstate | 45.13 |
| 106 | 18 | Paraguay | 44.54 |
| 109 | 19 | Trinidad and Tobago | 43.11 |
| 115 | 20 | Venezuela, RBFCS | 39.24 |
| 121 | 21 | Guyana | 36.76 |
| 123 | 22 | El Salvador | 36.18 |
| 125 | 23 | Suriname | 35.67 |
| 132 | 24 | Honduras | 32.89 |
| 136 | 25 | Guatemala | 31.74 |
| 141 | 26 | Nicaragua | 29.41 |
| 162 | 27 | HaitiFCS | 23.21 |