Morocco accounted for 12% of degree-seeking international students arriving in France in 2024, ahead of Algeria and China. OECD data also set student mobility against teacher shortages, demographic shifts and employment pressures across member states.
Algeria accounted for 10% of international students arriving in France in 2024, while China made up 8%, according to the OECD's Education at a Glance 2026. Morocco ranked first, with 12% of the inbound total. Senegal followed at 5% and Tunisia at 4%. Senegal entered France's top five, replacing Italy.
This is not a new lead for Morocco. It also ranked first in 2015. The OECD counts degree-seeking students who left their home country to study abroad, not every foreign national enrolled at a French institution. International students made up 10% of France's higher-education enrollment in 2024. The OECD average was 12%.
These are OECD comparative statistics, not national administrative totals issued by Morocco's MAP news agency, Algeria's APS news agency or Tunisia's TAP. The distinction matters. Cross-border mobility figures do not count the same thing as broader enrollment totals.
Morocco also ranked among Belgium's five largest countries of origin for international students, at 3%. France led that list at 35%, followed by the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Cameroon. Across OECD countries, international students' share of tertiary enrollment rose from 8% in 2015 to 12% in 2024. Mobility grew over the decade.
Student mobility is one kind of cross-border tie. It differs from the factors described in an investment assessment.
Across OECD countries, 9.1% of primary and secondary teachers were not fully qualified. That share topped 18% in Chile, Denmark, Estonia and Germany. At the start of the 2024/25 school year, about 4% of secondary teaching posts were unfilled in Latvia and Luxembourg. Long absences were also recorded. In Austria, 11% of teachers were absent for more than two months during the year. The figure was 9% in South Korea.
Job satisfaction was high. Across OECD countries, 85% of teachers said they were satisfied with their jobs. The gap with other professions varied by country. In Japan, teachers were 20 percentage points more likely to report satisfaction. In Chile, they were 21 points less likely.
The OECD projects that the number of children aged 5 to 14 across member countries will fall by 9% between 2024 and 2033. Primary teacher numbers still rose 13% from 2015 to 2024, while primary student numbers grew 2%. One quarter of secondary teachers are at least 55. Education systems face an ageing workforce as younger cohorts shrink.
Employment prospects also changed. From 2023 to 2025, unemployment among 25- to 34-year-olds with tertiary education rose by an average of 0.4 percentage points in OECD countries with available data. For young adults with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary qualifications, it fell by 0.2 points. In 2025, tertiary-educated young adults still had the lower average unemployment rate, at 5%.
Morocco's first-place ranking in France dates back to 2015. The OECD figures do not explain why students choose their destinations. They do show the scale of the education link between Morocco and France. Destination countries also face workforce and demographic pressures.
