Completion rate, lower secondary education, both sexes (%) by country

Countries reporting

Highest

98.9%

United States

Lowest

18.6%

Benin

Median

67.2%

Years covered

1996–2019

Data points

391

What the numbers show

Completion rate, lower secondary education, both sexes (%) is currently reported for 42 countries. The highest value is 98.9% in United States; the lowest is 18.6% in Benin.

The median across all reporting countries is 67.2%, and the mean is 61.7%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 5.

Over the past decade 38 countries rose and 4 fell. The largest increase was in Rwanda (up 372.5%), and the largest decrease in Zimbabwe (down 22.7%).

Completion rate, lower secondary education, both sexes: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	United States	98.9%	2017	up 0.5%	flat
2	Chile	95.9%	2017	up 1.9%	flat
3	Mongolia	94.9%	2018	up 14.7%	rising
4	Bolivia	92.0%	2018	up 9.6%	rising
5	Ecuador	91.5%	2018	up 21.4%	rising
6	Peru	91.4%	2018	up 13.1%	rising
7	Mexico	88.6%	2018	up 10.9%	rising
8	Dominican Republic	86.3%	2018	up 12.0%	rising
9	Indonesia	86.1%	2017	up 23.1%	rising
10	Brazil	85.7%	2018	up 5.9%	rising
11	Panama	85.1%	2018	up 19.5%	rising
12	Vietnam	83.4%	2014	up 31.5%	rising
13	Philippines	81.0%	2018	up 19.1%	rising
14	Venezuela	79.6%	2014	up 23.6%	rising
15	Paraguay	79.2%	2018	up 19.4%	rising
16	Colombia	76.6%	2018	up 8.4%	rising
17	El Salvador	75.1%	2018	up 27.5%	rising
18	Costa Rica	73.5%	2018	up 25.2%	rising
19	Uruguay	73.2%	2018	up 11.1%	rising
20	Kenya	70.5%	2014	up 87.9%	rising
21	Nepal	69.7%	2016	up 64.6%	rising
22	Bangladesh	64.8%	2019	up 55.1%	rising
23	Nigeria	62.5%	2018	up 24.7%	rising
24	Zimbabwe	53.9%	2019	down 22.7%	falling
25	Honduras	53.4%	2018	up 24.8%	rising
26	Zambia	51.1%	2018	up 33.3%	rising
27	Guatemala	48.2%	2015	up 45.9%	rising
28	Togo	47.5%	2017	up 61.3%	rising
29	Ghana	47.4%	2018	down 0.1%	falling
30	Gambia	45.8%	2018	up 24.9%	rising
31	Sierra Leone	44.1%	2017	up 116.2%	rising
32	Cameroon	43.2%	2014	up 80.3%	rising
33	Cambodia	40.5%	2014	up 51.4%	rising
34	Haiti	34.5%	2017	up 25.0%	rising
35	Rwanda	27.9%	2015	up 372.5%	volatile
36	Mali	27.5%	2018	up 86.6%	rising
37	Senegal	26.6%	2017	up 166.5%	rising
38	Guinea	26.3%	2018	up 80.0%	rising
39	Uganda	26.2%	2016	up 74.0%	rising
40	Malawi	21.8%	2016	down 13.6%	rising
41	Ethiopia	21.4%	2016	up 127.6%	rising
42	Benin	18.6%	2018	down 12.7%	rising

About this data

Indicator: Completion rate, lower secondary education, both sexes (%)
Unit: %
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage: 42 places, 391 data points, 1996–2019
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

The number of persons in the relevant age group who have completed the last grade of the given level of education is expressed as a percentage of the total population (in the survey sample) of the same age group. The primary completion rate is the percentage of a cohort of children or young people aged 3-5 years above the intended age for the last grade of primary education who have completed that grade. The intended age for the last grade of primary education is the age at which pupils would enter the grade if they had started school at the official primary entrance age, had studied full-time and had progressed without repeating or skipping a grade. For example, if the official age of entry into primary education is 6 years, and if primary education has 6 grades, the intended age for the last grade of primary education is 11 years. In this case, 14-16 years (11 + 3 = 14 and 11 + 5 = 16) would be the reference age group for calculation of the primary completion rate. For more information, consult the UNESCO Institute of Statistics website: http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/