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What you should know about this indicator

  • This indicator combines data from two sources. Where UNESCO administrative records are available (from as early as the 1970s for some countries), those are used. Before 1985, where UNESCO data is not available, it draws on adjusted enrollment ratios from Lee and Lee (2016) — modified gross enrollment ratios that account for grade repetition, serving as the best available approximation of net enrollment rates for periods when age-specific enrollment data were not widely collected.
  • The net enrollment rate shows what share of children are enrolled at the education level intended for their age — for example, a rate of 90% means 90% of children in the official age group are enrolled at that level.
  • A rate below 100% doesn't necessarily mean those children are out of school — some may be enrolled at a different level than expected for their age.
Net enrollment rate in primary education
The share of children of school age (typically 6–11 years) who are enrolled in primary education.
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026); Lee and Lee (2016) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
May 12, 2026
Next expected update
May 2027
Date range
1820–2025
Unit
%

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

UNESCO Institute for Statistics – UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) - Education

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is the official and trusted source of internationally-comparable data on education, science, culture and communication. As the official statistical agency of UNESCO, the UIS produces a wide range of state-of-the-art databases to fuel the policies and investments needed to transform lives and propel the world towards its development goals. The UIS provides free access to data for all UNESCO countries and regional groupings from 1970 to the most recent year available.

Retrieved on
May 12, 2026
Retrieved from
https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources/bulk
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), Education, https://uis.unesco.org/bdds, 2026.

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is the official and trusted source of internationally-comparable data on education, science, culture and communication. As the official statistical agency of UNESCO, the UIS produces a wide range of state-of-the-art databases to fuel the policies and investments needed to transform lives and propel the world towards its development goals. The UIS provides free access to data for all UNESCO countries and regional groupings from 1970 to the most recent year available.

Retrieved on
May 12, 2026
Retrieved from
https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources/bulk
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), Education, https://uis.unesco.org/bdds, 2026.

Lee and Lee – Human Capital in the Long Run

Datasets on estimated school enrollment ratios from 1820 to 2010 and estimated educational attainment for the total, female, and male populations from 1870 to 2010. The estimates are available in five-year intervals for 111 countries.

Datasets were last updated in 2021 September. The research provides insightful analysis on the progression and trends of educational attainment over a long historical period, offering a comprehensive understanding of educational developments globally.

Retrieved on
November 20, 2023
Retrieved from
https://barrolee.github.io/BarroLeeDataSet/DataLeeLee.html
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Lee, Jong-Wha and Hanol Lee, 2016, “Human Capital in the Long Run,” Journal of Development Economics, vol. 122, pp. 147-169.

Datasets on estimated school enrollment ratios from 1820 to 2010 and estimated educational attainment for the total, female, and male populations from 1870 to 2010. The estimates are available in five-year intervals for 111 countries.

Datasets were last updated in 2021 September. The research provides insightful analysis on the progression and trends of educational attainment over a long historical period, offering a comprehensive understanding of educational developments globally.

Retrieved on
November 20, 2023
Retrieved from
https://barrolee.github.io/BarroLeeDataSet/DataLeeLee.html
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Lee, Jong-Wha and Hanol Lee, 2016, “Human Capital in the Long Run,” Journal of Development Economics, vol. 122, pp. 147-169.

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline
Notes on our processing step for this indicator
  • UNESCO OPRI data (based on school censuses that track enrollment by individual age) is used wherever available. Before 1985, for country-years without UNESCO coverage, data comes from Lee and Lee (2016), whose enrollment ratios adjust for grade repetition, bringing them closer to a true net enrollment rate than raw gross enrollment ratios.

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
  • All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Net enrollment rate in primary education”, part of the following publication: Hannah Ritchie, Veronika Samborska, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, and Max Roser (2023) - “Global Education”. Data adapted from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Lee and Lee. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260626-130539/grapher/primary-enrollment-selected-countries.html [online resource] (archived on June 26, 2026).

How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026); Lee and Lee (2016) – with minor processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026); Lee and Lee (2016) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. “Net enrollment rate in primary education” [dataset]. UNESCO Institute for Statistics, “UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) - Education”; Lee and Lee, “Human Capital in the Long Run” [original data]. Retrieved June 26, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260626-130539/grapher/primary-enrollment-selected-countries.html (archived on June 26, 2026).

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