28 May 2026 at 8:00 am
Global demand for English language learning: A market still shifting
Last week, Ivana Bartosik from BONARD Education joined Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao (ENZ) to present the latest insights on global demand for English language teaching. The story she told wasn’t one of a simple recovery.
Globally, more than one million students undertook English language study across the major destinations in 2024, generating around 7.6 million student weeks.
That’s a significant rebound from the pandemic years, but still well below 2019 levels, when the sector reached over 1.3 million students generating more than 10 million student weeks. The expectation was that 2024 would continue the strong momentum seen in 2022 and 2023. Instead, growth slowed.
As Ivana outlined, this wasn’t due to a drop in interest in learning English. Demand remains strong. What’s changed is the environment around it.
Across many of the major destinations, governments introduced tighter visa settings, enrolment caps and more restrictive policies. At the same time, students and families have been dealing with rising costs, weaker currencies and increased uncertainty. The result is a more constrained and more selective market. In 2024, global student numbers declined by around 6 percent and student weeks by 11 percent compared with the previous year.
The presentation also highlighted that the shape of demand is changing.
Adult learners, once a core part of the sector, are declining across many destinations. In their place, younger learners are entering earlier, often for shorter stays. The average age of students’ first study abroad experience has dropped from around 15–16 years pre pandemic to closer to 12–13 today.
At the same time, traditional patterns of mobility are changing. More students are choosing shorter, more flexible experiences. Some are staying closer to home, supported by the growth of in country options and transnational education offers.
There’s also growing competition from newer destinations. Markets such as the Philippines and Dubai are expanding quickly, offering alternatives that can be closer to home or more affordable for students.
Taken together, these shifts point to a sector that is no longer simply rebounding, but actively reshaping. As Ivana noted during the session, the key driver is no longer just student demand, it is the interaction between demand, policy settings and economic conditions.
Download a copy of the report or view the presentation on our IntelliLab website.
Webinar on the global demand for English language provision | IntelliLab
