Completion rate, primary education, both sexes (%) by country

Countries reporting

Highest

99.7%

United States

Lowest

43.6%

Uganda

Median

85.5%

Years covered

1996–2019

Data points

391

What the numbers show

Completion rate, primary education, both sexes (%) is currently reported for 42 countries. The highest value is 99.7% in United States; the lowest is 43.6% in Uganda.

The median across all reporting countries is 85.5%, and the mean is 79.4%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 2.

Over the past decade 41 countries rose and 1 fell. The largest increase was in Rwanda (up 417.7%), and the largest decrease in Benin (down 3.3%).

Completion rate, primary education, both sexes: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	United States	99.7%	2017	up 0.0%	flat
2	Ecuador	98.6%	2018	up 4.6%	rising
3	Mongolia	98.6%	2018	up 3.5%	rising
4	Mexico	97.9%	2018	up 3.0%	rising
5	Uruguay	97.6%	2018	up 2.9%	flat
6	Bolivia	97.3%	2018	up 6.2%	rising
7	Peru	97.0%	2018	up 4.9%	rising
8	Indonesia	96.6%	2017	up 4.0%	rising
9	Vietnam	96.6%	2014	up 8.4%	rising
10	Costa Rica	96.3%	2018	up 5.6%	rising
11	Chile	96.3%	2017	up 0.1%	flat
12	Panama	96.1%	2018	up 4.0%	rising
13	Brazil	95.2%	2018	up 1.1%	rising
14	Venezuela	94.1%	2014	up 5.6%	rising
15	Dominican Republic	94.0%	2018	up 11.3%	rising
16	Paraguay	93.8%	2018	up 7.4%	rising
17	Colombia	93.0%	2018	up 4.2%	rising
18	Philippines	91.9%	2018	up 8.4%	rising
19	El Salvador	89.7%	2018	up 15.4%	rising
20	Zimbabwe	88.8%	2019	up 3.5%	flat
21	Honduras	86.9%	2018	up 10.8%	rising
22	Kenya	84.1%	2014	up 52.5%	rising
23	Nepal	83.2%	2016	up 30.7%	rising
24	Bangladesh	82.6%	2019	up 22.7%	rising
25	Togo	79.8%	2017	up 31.3%	rising
26	Guatemala	78.0%	2015	up 25.0%	rising
27	Cameroon	73.6%	2014	up 24.2%	rising
28	Cambodia	72.3%	2014	up 22.6%	rising
29	Zambia	72.1%	2018	up 17.1%	rising
30	Ghana	71.0%	2018	up 9.0%	rising
31	Nigeria	70.8%	2018	up 1.3%	rising
32	Gambia	65.5%	2018	up 12.0%	rising
33	Sierra Leone	64.1%	2017	up 33.7%	rising
34	Rwanda	54.3%	2015	up 417.7%	rising
35	Haiti	53.1%	2017	up 29.9%	rising
36	Ethiopia	52.1%	2016	up 84.6%	rising
37	Senegal	50.1%	2017	up 101.1%	rising
38	Benin	47.6%	2018	down 3.3%	rising
39	Mali	47.2%	2018	up 55.6%	rising
40	Malawi	46.7%	2016	up 7.0%	rising
41	Guinea	45.1%	2018	up 34.6%	rising
42	Uganda	43.6%	2016	up 43.6%	rising

About this data

Indicator: Completion rate, primary 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/