Number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education in United States of America

United States of America: Number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education was 12 in 2019. ▬ Flat

Latest (2019)
12
Change on year
unchanged
World rank
5th
of 205 countries
All-time high
12
in 1998
All-time low
12
in 1998
Years of data
22
1998–2019

Number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education in United States of America, 1998–2019

02.557.51012.51998200820191998: 121999: 122000: 122001: 122002: 122003: 122004: 122005: 122006: 122007: 122008: 122009: 122010: 122011: 122012: 122013: 122014: 122015: 122016: 122017: 122018: 122019: 12

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

Analysis

The most recent figure for number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education in United States of America is 12, measured in 2019. That is the highest value across all 22 years on record.

Compared with earlier readings it is unchanged over ten years.

Over the whole period, number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education in United States of America peaked at 12 in 1998 and was at its lowest, 12, in 1998.

That places United States of America 5th out of 205 countries with data for 2019, putting it in the top 10%.

Number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education in United States of America, year by year

Annual values for Number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education guaranteed in legal frameworks in United States of America, 1998 to 2019.
Year Value Change
1998 12
1999 12 +0.0%
2000 12 +0.0%
2001 12 +0.0%
2002 12 +0.0%
2003 12 +0.0%
2004 12 +0.0%
2005 12 +0.0%
2006 12 +0.0%
2007 12 +0.0%
2008 12 +0.0%
2009 12 +0.0%
2010 12 +0.0%
2011 12 +0.0%
2012 12 +0.0%
2013 12 +0.0%
2014 12 +0.0%
2015 12 +0.0%
2016 12 +0.0%
2017 12 +0.0%
2018 12 +0.0%
2019 12 +0.0%

United States of America compared with similar countries

  • United States of America's 12 is above the median for high income countries, which is 10, 1.2× the median. (75 countries reporting)

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1990s 12 12 12 2
2000s 12 12 12 10
2010s 12 12 12 10

Countries ranked near United States of America

  1. 5 Argentina 12 compare
  2. 5 Armenia 12 compare
  3. 5 Austria 12 compare
  4. 5 Bahamas 12 compare
  5. 5 Belgium 12 compare
  6. 5 Bolivia, Plurinational State of 12 compare
  7. 5 Brazil 12 compare
  8. 5 British Virgin Islands 12 compare
  9. 5 Chile 12 compare
  10. 5 Curaçao 12 compare
  11. 5 Dominica 12 compare
  12. 5 Dominican Republic 12 compare
  13. 5 Ecuador 12 compare
  14. 5 Egypt 12 compare
  15. 5 France 12 compare
  16. 5 Grenada 12 compare
  17. 5 Israel 12 compare
  18. 5 Italy 12 compare
  19. 5 Kenya 12 compare
  20. 5 Marshall Islands 12 compare
  21. 5 Mexico 12 compare
  22. 5 Mongolia 12 compare
  23. 5 Naoero 12 compare
  24. 5 Netherlands 12 compare
  25. 5 Pakistan 12 compare
  26. 5 Palau 12 compare
  27. 5 Paraguay 12 compare
  28. 5 Philippines 12 compare
  29. 5 Portugal 12 compare
  30. 5 Puerto Rico 12 compare
  31. 5 Saint Kitts and Nevis 12 compare
  32. 5 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 12 compare
  33. 5 Türkiye 12 compare
  34. 5 Turkmenistan 12 compare
  35. 5 Uruguay 12 compare
  36. 5 Uzbekistan 12 compare

See the full ranking of 205 places →

More reference data data for United States of America

All data for United States of America →

Frequently asked questions

What is number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education in United States of America?
Number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education in United States of America was 12 in 2019, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
What is the highest number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education recorded in United States of America?
The highest recorded value was 12 in 1998.
What is the lowest number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education recorded in United States of America?
The lowest recorded value was 12 in 1998.
How does United States of America rank for number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education?
United States of America ranks 5th out of 205 countries with data for 2019.
Is number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education rising or falling in United States of America?
Over the last ten years it is unchanged. The long-run trend across the full record is flat.
Where does this United States of America data come from?
The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of Number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education guaranteed in legal frameworks. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 22 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education in United States of America. Statizoid, drawing on UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 13 September 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/number-of-years-of-compulsory-primary-and-secondary-education-guaranteed-in-legal/united-states/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/number-of-years-of-compulsory-primary-and-secondary-education-guaranteed-in-legal/united-states/">Number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education in United States of America</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education guaranteed in legal frameworks
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
205 places, 4,529 data points, 1975–2020
Last refreshed

Number of years of compulsory primary and secondary education. Most countries have legislation specifying the ages and the level of education (typically pre-primary or primary education) at which children should start school. Such legislation usually also specifies either the number of years of education that are guaranteed or the age at which young people may leave education or, in some cases, both. The number of years of primary and secondary education to which children are legally entitled should ideally be the number of grades of primary and secondary education which young people are expected to have completed before being legally eligible to leave school. Years of pre-primary education covered by the legal entitlement should be excluded from this indicator. For more information, consult the UNESCO Institute of Statistics website: http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/