The global educational industry market is valued at $3,173.75 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $3,421.26 billion in 2023. The US educational market is valued at around $1,200 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $1,260 billion in 2023, accounting for over 36.8% of the global educational market.
These figures cover a wide range of services and solutions, from textbooks to learning software and online apps. In this report, we focus on the educational industry’s publishing aspect, and we’ll present the most important and interesting statistics regarding the educational publishing market.
Educational publishing revenue
- The US educational publishing generated over $8.96 billion in sales revenue in 2022.
- This segment grew by 8.13% over 2021 after increasing by more than 20.97% a year before.
- Educational books account for 31.87% of the publishing industry’s revenue in the US.
- The US is the biggest market for educational books in the world.
- In Europe, school textbooks generated over $4.85 billion in sales revenue in 2021 (not including higher-ed textbooks).
- The European school textbook market recorded its first growth since 2017, increasing by 0.53% over 2020.
- Educational publishing accounted for 17.4% of European’s book publishing revenue in 2021.
| Country | Educational publishing revenue ($ million) |
| US | $8,960.00 |
| UK | $2,314.80 |
| Germany | $2,300.70 |
| Republic of Korea | $2,047.60 |
| Italy | $1,623.60 |
| France | $905.00 |
| Spain | $875.09 |
| Japan | $840.30 |
| Brazil | $684.20 |
| Netherlands | $616.00 |
| Turkey | $483.50 |
| Canada | $331.50 |
| Mexico | $327.30 |
| Denmark | $177.50 |
| Norway | $171.50 |
| Poland | $152.40 |
| Sweden | $134.60 |
| Finland | $132.50 |
| Portugal | $106.40 |
When we look at the educational publishing market relative to the overall publishing market, Mexico leads the way:
- Over 75.1% of the publishing revenue in Mexico is attributed to the educational publishing segment.
- Netherlands’ educational publishing accounts for over 63.4% of the publishing industry’s revenue.
- Brazil generates over 61.4% of its publishing revenue from educational books.
- Denmark (58.1%), Turkey (52.3%), and Colombia (52.1%) close the circle of countries in which educational publishing accounts for the majority of the publishing industry revenue.
- On the other hand, Hungary generates only 5.7% of its publishing revenue from educational books, the lowest in the World.
- Japan’s educational publishing market gets only 7.4% of its revenue from the educational segment, making Japan the only country aside from Hungary that generates less than 10% of its publishing revenue from educational books.
| Country | Educational publishing revenue ($ million) | Share of educational revenue in total publishing revenue |
| Mexico | $327.30 | 75.10% |
| Netherlands | $616.00 | 63.40% |
| Brazil | $684.20 | 61.40% |
| Denmark | $177.50 | 58.10% |
| Turkey | $483.50 | 52.30% |
| Colombia | $95.40 | 52.10% |
| Norway | $171.50 | 49.60% |
| Italy | $1,623.60 | 46.50% |
| UK | $2,314.80 | 43.20% |
| Finland | $132.50 | 40.40% |
Digital educational publishing statistics
Digital educational publishing includes textbooks, assessment books, and other digital segments used for educational purposes.
- The global digital publishing market generated over $13.4 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to $15.74 billion in 2023.
- The market will grow by 17% annually and will reach $29.5 billion in 2027.
- Within the global market, 33.2% is generated in the United States, which accounts for over $4.47 billion in revenue.
| Year | Global digital educational publishing revenue ($ billion) | USA | Rest of the world |
| 2019 | $8.40 | $2.82 | $5.58 |
| 2020 | $9.83 | $3.29 | $6.54 |
| 2021 | $11.50 | $3.84 | $7.66 |
| 2022 | $13.45 | $4.47 | $8.98 |
| 2023* | $15.74 | $5.22 | $10.52 |
| 2027* | $29.50 | $9.64 | $19.85 |
- Digital textbook revenue on a global level stands at $5.3 billion as of 2022 and is projected to reach $6.18 billion in 2023.
- Digital textbooks are the biggest contributor to the digital educational publishing industry, accounting for 39.4% of the sales revenue.
- In 2027, digital textbooks are projected to generate over $11.38 billion in sales revenue on a global level.
- However, digital textbooks will grow slower compared to the industry as a whole, and in 2027 will drop to 38.5% of the industry’s revenue.
| Year | Global digital textbook revenue ($ billion) | Share of digital textbook revenue in total digital educational revenue |
| 2019 | $3.35 | 39.92% |
| 2020 | $3.91 | 39.75% |
| 2021 | $4.55 | 39.58% |
| 2022 | $5.30 | 39.41% |
| 2023* | $6.18 | 39.24% |
| 2027* | $11.38 | 38.57% |
