Around 8,998,200 pupils were taught at Germany’s 32,800 general education schools during the 2025/2026 school year. The group represented nearly four-fifths of the country’s school population, while 2,258,000 students attended about 8,300 vocational schools.

Destatis reported the figures on Wednesday, November 4. German citizens made up 84% of pupils in general schools, and 16% held only foreign citizenship. Public institutions enrolled roughly 91% of these pupils, compared with 9% at private schools.

Germany recorded 811,200 school starters in 2025/2026, a decline of about 2% from the previous year. Most children, 735,500 or 91%, entered school at the standard age; 53,200 started late and 22,400 began early.

Among the 769,000 people who left general schools in the 2025 graduation year, 228,700 gained the general higher education entrance qualification. Another 64,900 departed without the first school-leaving certificate, including about 26,100 with a special educational needs qualification. General and vocational schools employed a combined 885,300 teachers.