country profile

Trinidad and Tobago

Latin America & CaribbeanHigh income1.37M population

Last updated August 4, 2026

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Progressing readiness

Composite GEFRI Score

Access & Parity is strongest, but Governance and Innovation remain constraints

Trinidad and Tobago shows progressing readiness to meet the challenges and opportunities of education in a rapidly changing world (56th percentile worldwide). Reforms are translating into broader capability, though uneven performance continues to slow system-wide alignment.

65.94Composite score
Global percentile
56th
Global rank
#79
Regional rank
#7
Viewing data for
Advanced readiness
Infrastructure
76.95
50th percentileGlobal avg. 70.44
Progressing readiness
Human Capital
66.86
43rd percentileGlobal avg. 66.18
Emerging readiness
Innovation
46.92
50th percentileGlobal avg. 48.64
Emerging readiness
Governance
49.78
58th percentileGlobal avg. 47.07
Advanced readiness
Access & Parity
89.18
68th percentileGlobal avg. 60.85

Country profile

Trinidad and Tobago shows progressing readiness, with important strengths but continued gaps across the system. Most dimension scores sit close to global norms, without a single dimension standing far above the rest.

Uneven scores across dimensions show where readiness conditions are less aligned. Limited tertiary enrollment narrows future talent pipelines and innovation capacity.

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.

Innovation presents a near-term leapfrog opportunity: performance is just below the global average, backed by enough observed data to support forward planning. Regionally, Trinidad and Tobago leads most clearly in School Access and Gender Parity, sitting well above the peer average.

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

Key insights

Places 79th worldwide.

Holds a regional position of 7th within Latin America & Caribbean.

Scores range from Access & Parity (89.2) to Innovation (46.9), reflecting variation across dimensions.

Leads regional peers most clearly in Access & Parity.

Regional peers: Latin America & Caribbean

Composite GEFRI Score

Global rankRegional rankCountryScore
341Chile80.13
382Uruguay76.69
433Argentina74.85
Cayman IslandsMicrostate70.01
St. Kitts and NevisMicrostate69.53
604Brazil69.26
695Colombia68.53
716Peru68.39
BarbadosMicrostate66.83
Antigua and BarbudaMicrostate66.10
797Trinidad and Tobago65.94
818Mexico65.54
ArubaMicrostate64.50
St. Vincent and the GrenadinesMicrostate64.29
DominicaMicrostate63.94
Turks and Caicos IslandsMicrostate63.69
GrenadaMicrostate63.56
839Puerto Rico63.46
8710Ecuador62.36
8811Cuba62.30
8912Costa Rica61.97
9213Dominican Republic60.49
St. LuciaMicrostate60.04
9514Jamaica59.66
Virgin Islands (U.S.)Microstate59.62
9615Panama59.61
Sint Maarten (Dutch part)Microstate59.40
9916Bolivia58.51
10217Belize57.80
10418Paraguay56.84
10519Bahamas, The56.82
St. Martin (French part)Microstate55.74
British Virgin IslandsMicrostate55.73
CuracaoMicrostate54.98
11120Venezuela, RB52.57
11421Guyana50.25
11722El Salvador47.95
12123Suriname45.13
13424Honduras41.17
13625Guatemala39.36
13726Nicaragua38.63
16627HaitiFCS27.97