Education
Compulsory education, duration (years)
Duration of compulsory education is the number of years that children are legally obliged to attend school.
World Bank code: SE.COM.DURS
• Data available for 197 countries • Latest year: 2025
In 2025 ,
Venezuela, RB
led Compulsory education, duration (years) at 17.00 .
The world median across 197 reporting countries was
10.00 .
What this measures:
Duration of compulsory education is the number of years that children are legally obliged to attend school.
How "Education" indicators are measured
Education indicators come from UNESCO's Institute for Statistics, national ministries, and school censuses. Enrollment rates can exceed 100% when over-age children are still in school (repeating grades), so "net enrollment" — which counts only age-appropriate students — is often the more interpretable metric. Literacy data is updated infrequently in many countries.
Distribution — 2025
Reporting
197 countries
Median
10.00
Mean
10.04
25th percentile
9.00
75th percentile
12.00
Range
0.00 – 17.00
World at a Glance — 2025
Every reporting country, grouped by region, shaded by value (quintile).
East Asia & Pacific Australia: 11.00 AU Brunei Darussalam: 9.00 BN China: 9.00 CN Guam: 0.00 GU Hong Kong SAR, China: 9.00 HK Indonesia: 9.00 ID Japan: 9.00 JP Kiribati: 9.00 KI Korea, Dem. People's Rep.: 12.00 KP Korea, Rep.: 9.00 KR Lao PDR: 9.00 LA Macao SAR, China: 10.00 MO Malaysia: 6.00 MY Marshall Islands: 13.00 MH Micronesia, Fed. Sts.: 8.00 FM Mongolia: 12.00 MN Myanmar: 5.00 MM Nauru: 14.00 NR New Caledonia: 0.00 NC New Zealand: 10.00 NZ Palau: 12.00 PW Philippines: 13.00 PH Samoa: 8.00 WS Singapore: 6.00 SG Thailand: 9.00 TH Timor-Leste: 9.00 TL Tonga: 15.00 TO Tuvalu: 9.00 TV Viet Nam: 10.00 VN Europe & Central Asia Albania: 9.00 AL Andorra: 10.00 AD Armenia: 12.00 AM Austria: 13.00 AT Azerbaijan: 9.00 AZ Belarus: 11.00 BY Belgium: 13.00 BE Bosnia and Herzegovina: 9.00 BA Bulgaria: 12.00 BG Croatia: 8.00 HR Cyprus: 10.00 CY Czechia: 10.00 CZ Denmark: 10.00 DK Estonia: 9.00 EE Finland: 12.00 FI France: 13.00 FR Georgia: 9.00 GE Germany: 13.00 DE Gibraltar: 13.00 GI Greece: 10.00 GR Hungary: 13.00 HU Iceland: 10.00 IS Ireland: 10.00 IE Italy: 12.00 IT Kazakhstan: 9.00 KZ Kyrgyz Republic: 10.00 KG Latvia: 11.00 LV Liechtenstein: 9.00 LI Lithuania: 11.00 LT Luxembourg: 12.00 LU Moldova: 10.00 MD Monaco: 11.00 MC Montenegro: 9.00 ME Netherlands: 13.00 NL North Macedonia: 13.00 MK Norway: 10.00 NO Poland: 9.00 PL Portugal: 12.00 PT Romania: 10.00 RO Russian Federation: 11.00 RU San Marino: 10.00 SM Serbia: 8.00 RS Slovak Republic: 11.00 SK Slovenia: 9.00 SI Spain: 10.00 ES Sweden: 10.00 SE Switzerland: 11.00 CH Tajikistan: 9.00 TJ Turkiye: 12.00 TR Turkmenistan: 12.00 TM Ukraine: 11.00 UA United Kingdom: 11.00 GB Uzbekistan: 11.00 UZ Latin America & Caribbean Antigua and Barbuda: 11.00 AG Argentina: 14.00 AR Aruba: 13.00 AW Bahamas, The: 12.00 BS Barbados: 11.00 BB Belize: 8.00 BZ Bolivia: 14.00 BO Brazil: 14.00 BR British Virgin Islands: 12.00 VG Cayman Islands: 12.00 KY Chile: 12.00 CL Colombia: 12.00 CO Costa Rica: 13.00 CR Cuba: 9.00 CU Curacao: 14.00 CW Dominica: 12.00 DM Dominican Republic: 15.00 DO Ecuador: 15.00 EC El Salvador: 15.00 SV Grenada: 12.00 GD Guatemala: 16.00 GT Guyana: 6.00 GY Haiti: 6.00 HT Honduras: 12.00 HN Jamaica: 6.00 JM Mexico: 14.00 MX Nicaragua: 7.00 NI Panama: 11.00 PA Paraguay: 13.00 PY Peru: 14.00 PE Puerto Rico (US): 13.00 PR Sint Maarten (Dutch part): 14.00 SX St. Kitts and Nevis: 12.00 KN St. Lucia: 10.00 LC St. Vincent and the Grenadines: 12.00 VC Suriname: 6.00 SR Trinidad and Tobago: 7.00 TT Turks and Caicos Islands: 13.00 TC Uruguay: 14.00 UY Venezuela, RB: 17.00 VE Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan Afghanistan: 9.00 AF Algeria: 10.00 DZ Bahrain: 9.00 BH Djibouti: 10.00 DJ Egypt, Arab Rep.: 12.00 EG Iran, Islamic Rep.: 9.00 IR Iraq: 6.00 IQ Israel: 15.00 IL Jordan: 10.00 JO Kuwait: 9.00 KW Lebanon: 10.00 LB Libya: 9.00 LY Malta: 11.00 MT Morocco: 9.00 MA Oman: 10.00 OM Pakistan: 12.00 PK Qatar: 12.00 QA Saudi Arabia: 9.00 SA Syrian Arab Republic: 9.00 SY Tunisia: 9.00 TN United Arab Emirates: 12.00 AE West Bank and Gaza: 10.00 PS Yemen, Rep.: 9.00 YE North America Bermuda: 13.00 BM Canada: 10.00 CA United States: 12.00 US South Asia Bangladesh: 5.00 BD India: 8.00 IN Maldives: 12.00 MV Nepal: 9.00 NP Sri Lanka: 11.00 LK Sub-Saharan Africa Angola: 10.00 AO Benin: 6.00 BJ Burkina Faso: 10.00 BF Cabo Verde: 10.00 CV Cameroon: 6.00 CM Central African Republic: 10.00 CF Chad: 10.00 TD Comoros: 6.00 KM Congo, Dem. Rep.: 6.00 CD Congo, Rep.: 10.00 CG Cote d'Ivoire: 10.00 CI Equatorial Guinea: 6.00 GQ Eritrea: 8.00 ER Eswatini: 7.00 SZ Ethiopia: 8.00 ET Gabon: 10.00 GA Gambia, The: 9.00 GM Ghana: 11.00 GH Guinea: 6.00 GN Guinea-Bissau: 9.00 GW Kenya: 12.00 KE Lesotho: 7.00 LS Liberia: 6.00 LR Madagascar: 5.00 MG Malawi: 8.00 MW Mali: 9.00 ML Mauritania: 9.00 MR Mauritius: 12.00 MU Namibia: 7.00 NA Nigeria: 9.00 NG Rwanda: 6.00 RW Sao Tome and Principe: 6.00 ST Senegal: 11.00 SN Seychelles: 11.00 SC Sierra Leone: 9.00 SL Somalia, Fed. Rep.: 8.00 SO South Africa: 9.00 ZA South Sudan: 8.00 SS Sudan: 8.00 SD Tanzania: 7.00 TZ Togo: 10.00 TG Uganda: 7.00 UG Zambia: 7.00 ZM Zimbabwe: 7.00 ZW Lighter = lower value · Darker = higher value. Hover a cell to see the country and value.
Highest Values — 2025
#
Country
Compulsory education, duration (years)
1
Venezuela, RB
Latin America & Caribbean
17.00
2
Guatemala
Latin America & Caribbean
16.00
3
El Salvador
Latin America & Caribbean
15.00
4
Tonga
East Asia & Pacific
15.00
5
Ecuador
Latin America & Caribbean
15.00
6
Dominican Republic
Latin America & Caribbean
15.00
7
Israel
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan
15.00
8
Curacao
Latin America & Caribbean
14.00
9
Peru
Latin America & Caribbean
14.00
10
Argentina
Latin America & Caribbean
14.00
Looking for a specific country?
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Biggest Movers — Year over Year
By Income Group — Average
Income group
Countries
Mean
High income
77
10.70
Upper middle income
51
10.65
Lower middle income
45
8.91
Low income
22
8.41
Not classified
2
12.50
By Region — Average
Region
Countries
Mean
East Asia & Pacific
29
9.10
Europe & Central Asia
53
10.66
Latin America & Caribbean
40
11.83
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan
23
10.00
North America
3
11.67
South Asia
5
9.00
Sub-Saharan Africa
44
8.32
Indicator Details
WB Code SE.COM.DURS Category EducationCountries with data 197Latest year 2025
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Source: World Bank Open Data (SE.COM.DURS ), CC BY 4.0. Rankings show countries with available data for 2025.