Education is fundamental to development and growth. Between 2000 and 2011, the total number of out-of-school children worldwide declined from 102 million to 57 million.

The global education market is now worth $4.4 trillion and is set to grow a lot over the next five years.

The report, issued by the London-based investment bank IBIS Capital, said the fastest-growing sector, not surprisingly, is e-learning, which is expected to grow some 23 percent by 2017. How fast has the global education market grown in the past decade? Early in the new millennium, it was worth about $2.3 trillion and by 2005 was worth about $2.5 trillion, according to this estimate by Apollo Global. Global e-Learning market to grow at a CAGR of 7.90 percent over the period 2012-2016.

According to a new market research report “Smart Education and Learning Market: Advanced Technologies, Digital Models, Adoption Trends and Worldwide Market Forecast (2012 – 2017)’’, published by MarketsandMarkets, the Global Smart Education and Learning market is expected to reach $220.0 billion by 2017 at a CAGR of 20.3% from 2012 to 2017. Services segment accounted for maximum revenue in the products’ market with $24.6 billion in 2011, and is estimated to reach $97.9 billion by 2017 with a CAGR of 26.6%, from 2012 to 2017. Content segment is estimated to be $72.9 billion in 2017, at a CAGR of 12.1%, from 2012 to 2017. Software is estimated to reach $37.2 billion and hardware with the least market share is estimated to reach $12.1 billion in 2017.

The market size of Indian education sector is expected to increase to Rs 602,410 crore (US$ 97.03 billion) by FY15 on back of strong demand for quality education, according to a report by India Ratings. The sector grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 16.5% during FY05-FY12. The higher education (HE) segment was at 34.04% ($17.02billion) of the total size in FY10 and grew by a CAGR of 18.13% during FY04-FY10.

The private education segment alone is expected to cross US$ 45 billion mark by 2015 from the present US$ 35 billion, according to a research report prepared by Investor Relation Society, affiliated to US based Global Investor Relations Network.

India’s online education market size is set to grow to US$ 40 billion by 2017 from the present US$ 20 billion,

 The education sector has attracted foreign direct investments (FDI) worth Rs 4,596.96 crore (US$ 740.35 million) during April 2000 to September 2013, according to the data released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).