3.518 million pupils and students in national education system in 2025-2026 school/university year

The school population in the national education system totalled 3.518 million pupils and students in the 2025-2026 school/university year, up by 33,100 compared with the previous school/university year, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) reported on Tuesday.Compared with the previous year, the school population recorded the most significant increases in upper secondary education (+5.0%) and higher education (+2.2%).The number of graduates in the 2024-2025 school/university year totalled 489,800 pupils and students, down 2.5% compared with the previous school/university year.In the 2025-2026 school/university year, almost half of the school population was enrolled in primary and lower secondary education (45.0%), while around one third was enrolled in upper secondary education (17.9%) and higher education (16.5%). Post-secondary education accounted for the smallest share of the total school population (2.2%). Of the total school population enrolled in the education system, around half (50.2%) were female pupils and students, while almost three quarters (73.6%) studied in urban areas.The majority of the school population (94.4%) was enrolled in public education institutions. By level of education, the highest share of pupils enrolled in private education institutions was recorded in post-secondary education (37.4%).The school enrolment rate was highest among children aged 6 to 10 (85.0%) compared with the other age groups. In the 2025-2026 academic year, 580,900 students were enrolled in higher education, of whom 55.4% were women.The most popular fields of study in higher education, according to the ISCED-F classification, were business, administration and law (23.9% of all students), followed by engineering, manufacturing and construction (19.9% of all students).The education institutions operating in the 2025-2026 school/academic year were mainly primary and lower secondary schools (56.2%), upper secondary schools (21.5%) and early childhood education institutions, including early childhood care and pre-primary education (17.4%). According to INS, the teaching staff in the education system totalled 247,500 in the 2025-2026 school/academic year. On average, there were 14 children, pupils or students for every teacher. Women accounted for the majority of teaching staff across the pre-university education system (83.3%) and at every education level: early childhood care and pre-primary education (99.5%), primary and lower secondary education (82.5%), upper secondary education (73.2%), post-secondary education (72.5%) and vocational education (63.7%).In the 2024-2025 school/academic year, 489,800 pupils and students graduated from lower secondary, upper secondary, vocational, post-secondary and higher education programmes, including bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, postgraduate courses and postdoctoral advanced research programmes. Female graduates accounted for the majority, numbering 255,800 or 52.2% of the total. Of all graduates, 84.0% completed their studies in urban areas, with the remainder graduating in rural areas.At the end of the 2024-2025 school year, 172,700 pupils graduated from lower secondary education, with the highest number recorded in the North-East region (18.2%). Boys accounted for 51.3% of graduates, exceeding the share of girls by 2.6 percentage points. In urban areas, lower secondary graduates represented 61.4% of all graduates at this level. By region, the North-East and South-Muntenia regions recorded the highest shares of lower secondary graduates from rural areas, at 52.1% and 51.5% respectively.A total of 124,400 pupils graduated from upper secondary education at the end of the 2024-2025 school year, down 17.0% compared with the previous school year. Most upper secondary graduates (84.4%) attended full-time day courses.More than half of upper secondary graduates (52.4%) completed the general academic stream, 38.0% graduated from the technological stream and 9.6% from the vocational stream.A total of 111,800 graduates sat the baccalaureate examination, including 99,000 from the 2025 graduating class (88.5%). Overall, 86,000 candidates passed (76.9%), including 80,700 from the 2025 graduating class (81.6%).Vocational education programmes were completed by 23,600 pupils, of whom 97.5% studied at public education institutions.Post-secondary education programmes were completed by 33,200 pupils, of whom 67.3% studied at public education institutions. In higher education, 135,900 students graduated with a degree. Women accounted for 59.3% of all degree graduates.Most higher education graduates earned degrees in business, administration and law (26.2%), followed by engineering, manufacturing and construction (16.2%) and health and welfare (11.6%).The dropout rate in the 2024-2025 school year was 0.7% in upper secondary and vocational education, 0.9% in primary education and 0.9% in lower secondary education.In 2023, most of the financial resources required to operate education institutions within the national education system (83.7%) came from public funding, including the state budget and local budgets. The remainder came from the institutions' own sources and household spending.By type of expenditure in public and private institutions, current expenditure accounted for the largest share of total education spending (94.9%), while capital expenditure represented 5.1%.