education2025
Primary school starting age (years)
Compare primary school starting age (years) across 210 countries using the latest fixed-year World Bank WDI observations for 2025.
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Key Insights
Global Average
6.0years
Median: 6.0years
Countries Covered
210
with available data
Highest
Bulgaria
7.0years
Lowest
Virgin Islands, British
5.0years
Top 5 Countries
1Bulgaria7.0years
2Croatia7.0years
3El Salvador7.0years
4Equatorial Guinea7.0years
5Ethiopia7.0years
By Region
Europe6.3years(32 countries)
North America6.3years(4 countries)
Africa6.2years(9 countries)
Asia6.0years(26 countries)
South America6.0years(7 countries)
Key Findings
- •210 ISO-mapped countries or territories have a finite fixed-year observation.
- •Zambia has the highest published value (7 years).
- •Antigua and Barbuda has the lowest published value (5 years).
Country Rankings
Top 10 Countries
Bottom 10 Countries
Data Analysis
Value Distribution
How countries are distributed across the value range
Low (5.0years)High (7.0years)
Regional Comparison
Average values by world region (Global avg: 6.0years)
Europe (32)
North America (4)
Africa (9)
Asia (26)
South America (7)
Other (130)
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
Primary school starting age is the age at which students would enter primary 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.PRM.AGES. MapTheory excludes aggregates, missing/non-finite values, and geographies without an ISO 3166-1 numeric mapping; it does not interpolate missing countries.
Methodology
Primary school starting age is the age at which students would enter primary 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 | Bulgaria | 7.0years |
| 2 | Croatia | 7.0years |
| 3 | El Salvador | 7.0years |
| 4 | Equatorial Guinea | 7.0years |
| 5 | Ethiopia | 7.0years |
| 6 | Estonia | 7.0years |
| 7 | Finland | 7.0years |
| 8 | Republic of The Gambia | 7.0years |
| 9 | Guatemala | 7.0years |
| 10 | Guinea | 7.0years |
| 11 | Hungary | 7.0years |
| 12 | Indonesia | 7.0years |
| 13 | North Korea | 7.0years |
| 14 | Kyrgyzstan | 7.0years |
| 15 | Latvia | 7.0years |
| 16 | Liechtenstein | 7.0years |
| 17 | Lithuania | 7.0years |
| 18 | Mali | 7.0years |
| 19 | Moldova, Republic of | 7.0years |
| 20 | Namibia | 7.0years |
| 21 | Niger | 7.0years |
| 22 | Papua New Guinea | 7.0years |
| 23 | Poland | 7.0years |
| 24 | Russian Federation | 7.0years |
| 25 | Serbia | 7.0years |
| 26 | South Africa | 7.0years |
| 27 | Sweden | 7.0years |
| 28 | Tajikistan | 7.0years |
| 29 | United Republic of Tanzania | 7.0years |
| 30 | Uzbekistan | 7.0years |
| 31 | Zambia | 7.0years |
| 32 | Afghanistan | 7.0years |
| 33 | Burundi | 6.0years |
| 34 | Belarus | 6.0years |
| 35 | Cambodia | 6.0years |
| 36 | Cameroon | 6.0years |
| 37 | Canada | 6.0years |
| 38 | Cape Verde | 6.0years |
| 39 | Central African Republic | 6.0years |
| 40 | Chad | 6.0years |
| 41 | Chile | 6.0years |
| 42 | People's Republic of China | 6.0years |
| 43 | Colombia | 6.0years |
| 44 | Comoros | 6.0years |
| 45 | Republic of the Congo | 6.0years |
| 46 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 6.0years |
| 47 | Costa Rica | 6.0years |
| 48 | Cuba | 6.0years |
| 49 | Cyprus | 6.0years |
| 50 | Czech Republic | 6.0years |
| 51 | Benin | 6.0years |
| 52 | Denmark | 6.0years |
| 53 | Dominican Republic | 6.0years |
| 54 | Ecuador | 6.0years |
| 55 | Eritrea | 6.0years |
| 56 | Fiji | 6.0years |
| 57 | France | 6.0years |
| 58 | French Polynesia | 6.0years |
| 59 | Djibouti | 6.0years |
| 60 | Gabon | 6.0years |
| 61 | Georgia | 6.0years |
| 62 | State of Palestine | 6.0years |
| 63 | Germany | 6.0years |
| 64 | Ghana | 6.0years |
| 65 | Kiribati | 6.0years |
| 66 | Greece | 6.0years |
| 67 | Guam | 6.0years |
| 68 | Guyana | 6.0years |
| 69 | Haiti | 6.0years |
| 70 | Honduras | 6.0years |
| 71 | Hong Kong | 6.0years |
| 72 | Iceland | 6.0years |
| 73 | India | 6.0years |
| 74 | Islamic Republic of Iran | 6.0years |
| 75 | Iraq | 6.0years |
| 76 | Israel | 6.0years |
| 77 | Italy | 6.0years |
| 78 | Cote d'Ivoire | 6.0years |
| 79 | Jamaica | 6.0years |
| 80 | Japan | 6.0years |
| 81 | Kazakhstan | 6.0years |
| 82 | Jordan | 6.0years |
| 83 | Kenya | 6.0years |
| 84 | South Korea | 6.0years |
| 85 | Kuwait | 6.0years |
| 86 | Lao People's Democratic Republic | 6.0years |
| 87 | Lebanon | 6.0years |
| 88 | Lesotho | 6.0years |
| 89 | Liberia | 6.0years |
| 90 | Libya | 6.0years |
| 91 | Luxembourg | 6.0years |
| 92 | Macao | 6.0years |
| 93 | Madagascar | 6.0years |
| 94 | Malawi | 6.0years |
| 95 | Malaysia | 6.0years |
| 96 | Maldives | 6.0years |
| 97 | Mauritania | 6.0years |
| 98 | Mexico | 6.0years |
| 99 | Monaco | 6.0years |
| 100 | Mongolia | 6.0years |
| 101 | Montenegro | 6.0years |
| 102 | Morocco | 6.0years |
| 103 | Mozambique | 6.0years |
| 104 | Oman | 6.0years |
| 105 | Nauru | 6.0years |
| 106 | Netherlands | 6.0years |
| 107 | Curaçao | 6.0years |
| 108 | Aruba | 6.0years |
| 109 | Sint Maarten (Dutch part) | 6.0years |
| 110 | New Caledonia | 6.0years |
| 111 | Vanuatu | 6.0years |
| 112 | Nicaragua | 6.0years |
| 113 | Nigeria | 6.0years |
| 114 | Norway | 6.0years |
| 115 | Micronesia, Federated States of | 6.0years |
| 116 | Marshall Islands | 6.0years |
| 117 | Palau | 6.0years |
| 118 | Panama | 6.0years |
| 119 | Paraguay | 6.0years |
| 120 | Peru | 6.0years |
| 121 | Philippines | 6.0years |
| 122 | Portugal | 6.0years |
| 123 | Guinea-Bissau | 6.0years |
| 124 | Timor-Leste | 6.0years |
| 125 | Puerto Rico | 6.0years |
| 126 | Qatar | 6.0years |
| 127 | Romania | 6.0years |
| 128 | Rwanda | 6.0years |
| 129 | San Marino | 6.0years |
| 130 | Sao Tome and Principe | 6.0years |
| 131 | Saudi Arabia | 6.0years |
| 132 | Senegal | 6.0years |
| 133 | Seychelles | 6.0years |
| 134 | Sierra Leone | 6.0years |
| 135 | Singapore | 6.0years |
| 136 | Slovakia | 6.0years |
| 137 | Vietnam | 6.0years |
| 138 | Slovenia | 6.0years |
| 139 | Somalia | 6.0years |
| 140 | Zimbabwe | 6.0years |
| 141 | Spain | 6.0years |
| 142 | South Sudan | 6.0years |
| 143 | Sudan | 6.0years |
| 144 | Suriname | 6.0years |
| 145 | Eswatini | 6.0years |
| 146 | Switzerland | 6.0years |
| 147 | Syrian Arab Republic | 6.0years |
| 148 | Thailand | 6.0years |
| 149 | Togo | 6.0years |
| 150 | Tonga | 6.0years |
| 151 | United Arab Emirates | 6.0years |
| 152 | Tunisia | 6.0years |
| 153 | Türkiye | 6.0years |
| 154 | Turkmenistan | 6.0years |
| 155 | Turks and Caicos Islands | 6.0years |
| 156 | Tuvalu | 6.0years |
| 157 | Uganda | 6.0years |
| 158 | Ukraine | 6.0years |
| 159 | The Republic of North Macedonia | 6.0years |
| 160 | Egypt | 6.0years |
| 161 | United States of America | 6.0years |
| 162 | Virgin Islands, U.S. | 6.0years |
| 163 | Burkina Faso | 6.0years |
| 164 | Uruguay | 6.0years |
| 165 | Venezuela | 6.0years |
| 166 | Yemen | 6.0years |
| 167 | Albania | 6.0years |
| 168 | Algeria | 6.0years |
| 169 | American Samoa | 6.0years |
| 170 | Andorra | 6.0years |
| 171 | Angola | 6.0years |
| 172 | Azerbaijan | 6.0years |
| 173 | Argentina | 6.0years |
| 174 | Austria | 6.0years |
| 175 | Bahrain | 6.0years |
| 176 | Bangladesh | 6.0years |
| 177 | Armenia | 6.0years |
| 178 | Belgium | 6.0years |
| 179 | Bhutan | 6.0years |
| 180 | Bolivia | 6.0years |
| 181 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 6.0years |
| 182 | Botswana | 6.0years |
| 183 | Brazil | 6.0years |
| 184 | Solomon Islands | 6.0years |
| 185 | Brunei Darussalam | 6.0years |
| 186 | Myanmar | 5.0years |
| 187 | Cayman Islands | 5.0years |
| 188 | Sri Lanka | 5.0years |
| 189 | Dominica | 5.0years |
| 190 | Gibraltar | 5.0years |
| 191 | Grenada | 5.0years |
| 192 | Ireland | 5.0years |
| 193 | Malta | 5.0years |
| 194 | Mauritius | 5.0years |
| 195 | Nepal | 5.0years |
| 196 | New Zealand | 5.0years |
| 197 | Pakistan | 5.0years |
| 198 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 5.0years |
| 199 | Saint Lucia | 5.0years |
| 200 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 5.0years |
| 201 | Trinidad and Tobago | 5.0years |
| 202 | United Kingdom | 5.0years |
| 203 | Samoa | 5.0years |
| 204 | Antigua and Barbuda | 5.0years |
| 205 | Australia | 5.0years |
| 206 | Bahamas | 5.0years |
| 207 | Barbados | 5.0years |
| 208 | Bermuda | 5.0years |
| 209 | Belize | 5.0years |
| 210 | Virgin Islands, British | 5.0years |
Showing 210 of 210 countries
Topics
Data Source
This data comes from World Bank World Development Indicators (2025).
View Original Source