No.3633
01/07/2025

Educational Services Market in Japan: Key Research Findings 2024

The Market for Educational Services (Total of Major 15 Categories) Decreased 0.7% from Previous Fiscal Year to 2,833,170 million Yen in FY2023

Yano Research Institute (the President, Takashi Mizukoshi) has studied the domestic educational service market (total of major fifteen categories) and found out the trend by service category, the trend of market players, and outlook.


Transition of Educational Services Market Size (Total Major 15 Categories)
Transition of Educational Services Market Size (Total Major 15 Categories)

Market Overview

The market for educational services in FY2023 (total of 15 major categories) in terms of sales at businesses decreased 0.3% from the previous fiscal year to 2,833,170 million yen. The decrease was owed to the continued decline in the number of children and the suppression of educational investment from household income due to the rise in commodity prices. Correspondence education services continued to plummet from the previous fiscal year, indicating a reactionary decline from the surge in demand during the pandemic. Of the fifteen categories in the market, only the following four exceeded the previous fiscal year's results: Qualification and certification examinations, language schools and courses, physical activities and exercises for toddlers, and corporate business training services.

Looking back at the market transitions, each category of the market has experienced extreme ups and downs. In FY2020, the outbreak of the pandemic shrank the entire market, due to significant restrictions on business activities, forcing many schools and classes to close and refrain from advertising for new students. While face-to-face classes were regulated, correspondence education and e-learning flourished in FY2020 and FY2021. During this period, methods of delivering educational services diversified, such as combining online classes or digital textbooks. Later, as the pandemic was phased out, correspondence education slowed down, and the sharp rise of e-learning and B2B training services has settled down, which is still enjoying steady growth.

Noteworthy Topics

Major Educational Service Providers Active in Establishing Supporting Schools for Correspondence High School Students

Many businesses engaged in the education industry are facing the harsh realities of fewer children and fiercer competition. To ensure stable income and gain new sources of revenue, they are expanding their target population and business areas through mergers and acquisitions and business alliances with external companies.
As a part of such efforts, major education service providers such as Gakken Group, Sundai Group, Benesse Group, etc. have been successively establishing support schools* for correspondence high school students, against the backdrop of the recent increase in the number of correspondence high school students (290,118 students in FY2024, which is 25,144 students more than in FY2023, according to the preliminary figures of the School Basic Survey by the Ministry of Education Culture Sports Science and Technology).  

* Educational institutions established to support correspondence high school students from the learning and mental aspects. 

Future Outlook

The market for educational services for FY2024 (total of 15 major categories) is forecast to reach 2,861,970 million yen, up 1.0% from the previous fiscal year, as a certain level of recovery in educational investment from household income is expected, supported by the wage hike policy by the government. Specifically, the eight categories, i.e., cram schools and university preparatory schools, English learning materials for infants, qualification and certification schools, qualification and certification examinations, language schools and courses, physical activities and exercises for toddlers, corporate business training services, and e-learning, are projected to grow steadily from the previous fiscal year.  

Research Outline

1.Research Period: July to September 2024
2.Research Object: Cram school operators, university preparatory school operators, correspondence education providers, qualification exam school operators, language school operators, operators of infant classes, gymnastics class operators, corporate/business training service providers, e-learning service providers, learning material companies, education industrial organizations, and government offices, etc.
3.Research Methogology: Face-to-face interviews (including online) by expert researchers, survey via telephone/FAX/email, and literature research

The Educational Services Market

The market for educational services in this research refers to the following fifteen categories: 1) Cram schools and university preparatory schools, 2) Private tutor dispatching business, 3) Correspondence education for infants, 4) Correspondence education for students, 5) Correspondence education for businesspersons, 6) English learning materials for infants, 7) Qualification and certification schools, 8) Qualification and certification examinations, 9) Language schools and courses, 10) Entrance examination preparation schools for toddlers, 11) Intellectual education for toddlers, 12) Physical activities and exercises for toddlers, 13) Corporate business training services, 14) E-learning, and 15) Textbooks.

<Products and Services in the Market>

Cram schools and university preparatory schools, Private tutor dispatching business, Correspondence education for infants, Correspondence education for students, Correspondence education for businesspersons, English learning materials for infants, Qualification and certification schools, Qualification and certification examinations, Language schools and courses, Entrance examination preparation schools for toddlers, Intellectual education for toddlers, Physical activities and exercises for toddlers, Corporate business training services, E-learning, and Textbooks.

Published Report

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