During the global transformations of the modern world, due to rapid technological progress, changes in the geopolitical order, the formation of modern socioeconomic systems and other factors, the role and importance of education is growing. One of the relevant processes that determine the modern world reality is the formation and development of intellectual resources that ensure the introduction of technological innovations in all spheres of life, and are also an important factor in sustainable economic development. The basis for the development of intellectual resources is education, in particular higher education, which forms the modern worldview of a person, contributes to the assimilation of basic knowledge/achievements of mankind, the development of modern cognitive skills, the development of technologies, professional activity, and forms the creative potential of the individual. The study is devoted to highlighting current trends in the development of the educational potential of intellectualization of the economy in the global, regional and national dimensions, and also focuses on the diversity of creating conditions for the intellectual development of the population in regions and countries of the world with different socioeconomic structure and per capita income. An analysis of statistical data is carried out, in particular, an analysis of the number of students and financing of higher education in regions, groups of countries by income level and individual countries of the modern world during 2012–2022; systemic and regional trends and features of building intellectual potential in the modern world are identified. The countries with the largest number of students have been defined, with a steady trend of its growth. The tendencies of growth and decline in the number of students in the group of developed countries, in the group of countries with economies in transition and in the group of developing countries are analyzed. It is concluded that there is a steady increase in the number of students in countries with high rates of economic growth. These include China, India, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Turkey, Egypt and others. In the regional context, the leaders in terms of the number of students are the countries of Europe, East Asia, and Latin America. At the same time, the downward trend in the number of students is observed in countries with economies in transition, where education and enlightenment were considered one of the main social values. In accordance with the requirements of technological transformation, the whole world invests in the development of human capital, increasing funding for education. An analysis of expenditures on education in groups of countries by income showed that these expenditures are unevenly distributed and in terms of per capita are very different from each other. General, State-owned and other sources of financing education are considered. It is found that the largest share of public spending on education belongs to the group of high-income countries, while household spending in these countries is several times lower. The opposite is the trend in the ratio of funding sources in low-income countries, where public private spending is comparable, and official development assistance has recently declined sharply. It is concluded that there are significant differences in educational opportunities between countries and regions of the world, which have created different educational conditions in terms of access and quality. Among them are both developed and developing countries characterized by high rates of economic growth. Competitiveness in the modern global environment is obtained by those countries where education is a priority, and those countries where the formation of human capital mostly falls on the shoulders of the population lag behind, respectively.