According to data released by the Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics (DGEEC), approximately 20% of students in Portugal attended private schools during the 2021/2022

school year. This means that two out of every ten students were enrolled in private educational institutions.

The data further reveals that the majority of students, accounting for 80% of the total, attended public educational establishments. With over two million students enrolled, nearly 930 thousand were in basic education (1st to 9th grade), while an additional 397 thousand were in secondary education.

Preschool education establishments had just over 259,000 children, representing nearly half of the total number of students already in higher education that same year (433,000).

Additionally, there were 623 children and young people who pursued an individual or domestic education model, chosen by their families.

These statistics provide insights into the educational landscape in Portugal, highlighting the significant presence of private schools alongside the predominant public education system. Photo by Sssbanerjee, Wikimedia commons.