The UIS has designed a series of diagrams to provide a visual representation of the structure of national education systems based on ISCED and to facilitate country-by-country comparison. The diagrams were created based on the mappings provided by countries and validated by the UIS. Different programmes can be mapped to the same level, for example, all programmes for primary education regardless of the theoretical entrance age or programme duration should be mapped to ISCED level 1. The ISCED levels reflect the degree of complexity and specialization of the content of an education programme, from foundational to complex.

The diagrams will be updated annually. All educational institutions within a participating country, both public and private, and both formal and informal, are included. The diagrams do not include adult, or special needs education.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant number of countries delivered ISCED mappings to the UIS. Following consultations with countries in the Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa, the UIS produced 133 diagrams; 115 are published here based on data that has been checked and validated as of 1 March 2021, and an additional 18 are included with a footnote denoting “country approval pending”. The outstanding country ISCED diagrams will be published on the new UIS ISCED website (isced.uis.unesco.org) as they become available.

There are a total of 184 ISCED 2011 mappings available (link to mappings).