education2025
Lower secondary school starting age (years)
Compare lower secondary school starting age (years) across 209 countries using the latest fixed-year World Bank WDI observations for 2025.
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Key Insights
Global Average
11.8years
Median: 12.0years
Countries Covered
209
with available data
Highest
Namibia
14.0years
Lowest
Armenia
10.0years
Top 5 Countries
1Namibia14.0years
2South Africa14.0years
3United Republic of Tanzania14.0years
4Zambia14.0years
5Denmark13.0years
By Region
North America12.3years(4 countries)
Africa12.2years(9 countries)
Other11.8years(129 countries)
South America11.7years(7 countries)
Europe11.7years(32 countries)
Key Findings
- •209 ISO-mapped countries or territories have a finite fixed-year observation.
- •Zambia has the highest published value (14 years).
- •Azerbaijan has the lowest published value (10 years).
Country Rankings
Top 10 Countries
Bottom 10 Countries
Data Analysis
Value Distribution
How countries are distributed across the value range
Low (10.0years)High (14.0years)
Regional Comparison
Average values by world region (Global avg: 11.8years)
North America (4)
Africa (9)
Other (129)
South America (7)
Europe (32)
Asia (26)
Oceania (2)
Percentile Profile
The curve shows how values change from the lowest to the highest country. Steep sections reveal inequality or outliers.
0th percentile · lowest100th percentile · highest
About This Statistic
Lower secondary school starting age is the age at which students would enter lower secondary education, assuming they had started at the official entrance age for the lowest level of education, had studied full-time throughout and had progressed through the system without repeating or skipping a grade.
Values use one fixed 2025 reference year from World Development Indicators series SE.SEC.AGES. MapTheory excludes aggregates, missing/non-finite values, and geographies without an ISO 3166-1 numeric mapping; it does not interpolate missing countries.
Methodology
Lower secondary school starting age is the age at which students would enter lower secondary education, assuming they had started at the official entrance age for the lowest level of education, had studied full-time throughout and had progressed through the system without repeating or skipping a grade.
Full Data
| Rank ↑ | Country ↕ | Value ↕ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Namibia | 14.0years |
| 2 | South Africa | 14.0years |
| 3 | United Republic of Tanzania | 14.0years |
| 4 | Zambia | 14.0years |
| 5 | Denmark | 13.0years |
| 6 | El Salvador | 13.0years |
| 7 | Equatorial Guinea | 13.0years |
| 8 | Ethiopia | 13.0years |
| 9 | Estonia | 13.0years |
| 10 | Finland | 13.0years |
| 11 | Republic of The Gambia | 13.0years |
| 12 | Guatemala | 13.0years |
| 13 | Guinea | 13.0years |
| 14 | Iceland | 13.0years |
| 15 | Indonesia | 13.0years |
| 16 | Ireland | 13.0years |
| 17 | Lesotho | 13.0years |
| 18 | Latvia | 13.0years |
| 19 | Mali | 13.0years |
| 20 | Mozambique | 13.0years |
| 21 | Niger | 13.0years |
| 22 | Norway | 13.0years |
| 23 | Papua New Guinea | 13.0years |
| 24 | Zimbabwe | 13.0years |
| 25 | Eswatini | 13.0years |
| 26 | Sweden | 13.0years |
| 27 | Uganda | 13.0years |
| 28 | Afghanistan | 13.0years |
| 29 | Botswana | 13.0years |
| 30 | Burundi | 12.0years |
| 31 | Cambodia | 12.0years |
| 32 | Cameroon | 12.0years |
| 33 | Canada | 12.0years |
| 34 | Cape Verde | 12.0years |
| 35 | Central African Republic | 12.0years |
| 36 | Chad | 12.0years |
| 37 | Chile | 12.0years |
| 38 | People's Republic of China | 12.0years |
| 39 | Republic of the Congo | 12.0years |
| 40 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 12.0years |
| 41 | Costa Rica | 12.0years |
| 42 | Cuba | 12.0years |
| 43 | Cyprus | 12.0years |
| 44 | Benin | 12.0years |
| 45 | Dominica | 12.0years |
| 46 | Dominican Republic | 12.0years |
| 47 | Ecuador | 12.0years |
| 48 | Fiji | 12.0years |
| 49 | Georgia | 12.0years |
| 50 | Ghana | 12.0years |
| 51 | Kiribati | 12.0years |
| 52 | Greece | 12.0years |
| 53 | Grenada | 12.0years |
| 54 | Guyana | 12.0years |
| 55 | Haiti | 12.0years |
| 56 | Honduras | 12.0years |
| 57 | Hong Kong | 12.0years |
| 58 | Islamic Republic of Iran | 12.0years |
| 59 | Iraq | 12.0years |
| 60 | Israel | 12.0years |
| 61 | Cote d'Ivoire | 12.0years |
| 62 | Jamaica | 12.0years |
| 63 | Japan | 12.0years |
| 64 | Jordan | 12.0years |
| 65 | Kenya | 12.0years |
| 66 | North Korea | 12.0years |
| 67 | South Korea | 12.0years |
| 68 | Lebanon | 12.0years |
| 69 | Liberia | 12.0years |
| 70 | Libya | 12.0years |
| 71 | Liechtenstein | 12.0years |
| 72 | Luxembourg | 12.0years |
| 73 | Macao | 12.0years |
| 74 | Malawi | 12.0years |
| 75 | Malaysia | 12.0years |
| 76 | Maldives | 12.0years |
| 77 | Mauritania | 12.0years |
| 78 | Mexico | 12.0years |
| 79 | Morocco | 12.0years |
| 80 | Nauru | 12.0years |
| 81 | Netherlands | 12.0years |
| 82 | Curaçao | 12.0years |
| 83 | Aruba | 12.0years |
| 84 | Sint Maarten (Dutch part) | 12.0years |
| 85 | Vanuatu | 12.0years |
| 86 | Nicaragua | 12.0years |
| 87 | Nigeria | 12.0years |
| 88 | Micronesia, Federated States of | 12.0years |
| 89 | Marshall Islands | 12.0years |
| 90 | Palau | 12.0years |
| 91 | Panama | 12.0years |
| 92 | Paraguay | 12.0years |
| 93 | Peru | 12.0years |
| 94 | Philippines | 12.0years |
| 95 | Portugal | 12.0years |
| 96 | Guinea-Bissau | 12.0years |
| 97 | Timor-Leste | 12.0years |
| 98 | Puerto Rico | 12.0years |
| 99 | Qatar | 12.0years |
| 100 | Rwanda | 12.0years |
| 101 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 12.0years |
| 102 | Saint Lucia | 12.0years |
| 103 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 12.0years |
| 104 | Sao Tome and Principe | 12.0years |
| 105 | Saudi Arabia | 12.0years |
| 106 | Senegal | 12.0years |
| 107 | Seychelles | 12.0years |
| 108 | Sierra Leone | 12.0years |
| 109 | Singapore | 12.0years |
| 110 | Slovenia | 12.0years |
| 111 | Spain | 12.0years |
| 112 | South Sudan | 12.0years |
| 113 | Sudan | 12.0years |
| 114 | Suriname | 12.0years |
| 115 | Switzerland | 12.0years |
| 116 | Syrian Arab Republic | 12.0years |
| 117 | Thailand | 12.0years |
| 118 | Togo | 12.0years |
| 119 | Tonga | 12.0years |
| 120 | Trinidad and Tobago | 12.0years |
| 121 | Tunisia | 12.0years |
| 122 | Turks and Caicos Islands | 12.0years |
| 123 | Tuvalu | 12.0years |
| 124 | Egypt | 12.0years |
| 125 | United States of America | 12.0years |
| 126 | Virgin Islands, U.S. | 12.0years |
| 127 | Burkina Faso | 12.0years |
| 128 | Uruguay | 12.0years |
| 129 | Venezuela | 12.0years |
| 130 | Yemen | 12.0years |
| 131 | American Samoa | 12.0years |
| 132 | Andorra | 12.0years |
| 133 | Angola | 12.0years |
| 134 | Antigua and Barbuda | 12.0years |
| 135 | Argentina | 12.0years |
| 136 | Australia | 12.0years |
| 137 | Bahrain | 12.0years |
| 138 | Belgium | 12.0years |
| 139 | Bhutan | 12.0years |
| 140 | Bolivia | 12.0years |
| 141 | Solomon Islands | 12.0years |
| 142 | Virgin Islands, British | 12.0years |
| 143 | Brunei Darussalam | 12.0years |
| 144 | Bulgaria | 11.0years |
| 145 | Cayman Islands | 11.0years |
| 146 | Colombia | 11.0years |
| 147 | Comoros | 11.0years |
| 148 | Croatia | 11.0years |
| 149 | Czech Republic | 11.0years |
| 150 | Eritrea | 11.0years |
| 151 | France | 11.0years |
| 152 | French Polynesia | 11.0years |
| 153 | Djibouti | 11.0years |
| 154 | Gabon | 11.0years |
| 155 | Gibraltar | 11.0years |
| 156 | Hungary | 11.0years |
| 157 | India | 11.0years |
| 158 | Italy | 11.0years |
| 159 | Kuwait | 11.0years |
| 160 | Kyrgyzstan | 11.0years |
| 161 | Lao People's Democratic Republic | 11.0years |
| 162 | Lithuania | 11.0years |
| 163 | Madagascar | 11.0years |
| 164 | Malta | 11.0years |
| 165 | Mauritius | 11.0years |
| 166 | Monaco | 11.0years |
| 167 | Mongolia | 11.0years |
| 168 | Moldova, Republic of | 11.0years |
| 169 | Montenegro | 11.0years |
| 170 | New Caledonia | 11.0years |
| 171 | New Zealand | 11.0years |
| 172 | Poland | 11.0years |
| 173 | Romania | 11.0years |
| 174 | Russian Federation | 11.0years |
| 175 | San Marino | 11.0years |
| 176 | Serbia | 11.0years |
| 177 | Vietnam | 11.0years |
| 178 | Tajikistan | 11.0years |
| 179 | The Republic of North Macedonia | 11.0years |
| 180 | United Kingdom | 11.0years |
| 181 | Uzbekistan | 11.0years |
| 182 | Samoa | 11.0years |
| 183 | Albania | 11.0years |
| 184 | Algeria | 11.0years |
| 185 | Bahamas | 11.0years |
| 186 | Bangladesh | 11.0years |
| 187 | Barbados | 11.0years |
| 188 | Bermuda | 11.0years |
| 189 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 11.0years |
| 190 | Brazil | 11.0years |
| 191 | Belize | 11.0years |
| 192 | Myanmar | 10.0years |
| 193 | Belarus | 10.0years |
| 194 | Sri Lanka | 10.0years |
| 195 | State of Palestine | 10.0years |
| 196 | Germany | 10.0years |
| 197 | Kazakhstan | 10.0years |
| 198 | Oman | 10.0years |
| 199 | Nepal | 10.0years |
| 200 | Pakistan | 10.0years |
| 201 | Slovakia | 10.0years |
| 202 | Somalia | 10.0years |
| 203 | United Arab Emirates | 10.0years |
| 204 | Türkiye | 10.0years |
| 205 | Turkmenistan | 10.0years |
| 206 | Ukraine | 10.0years |
| 207 | Azerbaijan | 10.0years |
| 208 | Austria | 10.0years |
| 209 | Armenia | 10.0years |
Showing 209 of 209 countries
Topics
Data Source
This data comes from World Bank World Development Indicators (2025).
View Original Source