Primary School Completion by Country — Every Decade Since 1800

Primary school completion tracks the fundamental right to education and the completion of foundational learning, revealing stark global inequalities in children's opportunities to build a stable future. As of the 2020s, primary school completion ranges from 108.25 % in Nepal to 41.85 % in Chad across 128 countries. This metric measures the basic gateway to literacy, numeracy, and lifelong agency, capturing the profound divergence in human potential across different societies.

The table and chart track every country MYRIAD covers, decade by decade, revealing the long historical arc of educational expansion. In the 2020s, countries span a wide spectrum, featuring leaders like Nepal at 108.25 %, Moldova at 107.14 %, Hong Kong at 105.28 %, Montenegro at 104.53 %, Saudi Arabia at 103.21 %, Thailand at 103.04 %, Portugal at 102.79 %, Mexico at 102.74 %, Venezuela at 102.61 %, and Indonesia at 101.88 %, while the median rests around Bulgaria at 95.34 %. At the other end of the ranking sit Madagascar at 58.95 %, Syria at 58.23 %, Ethiopia at 58.21 %, Liberia at 58.16 %, Burkina Faso at 57.52 %, Angola at 53.94 %, Niger at 48.73 %, Mali at 48.43 %, Burundi at 47.61 %, and Chad at 41.85 %.

Every row links to what that number meant for a real life born there, translating abstract percentages into the tangible reality of a child's early years. Whether you are exploring completion rates in Brazil, China, Germany, India, Japan, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, or the United States, these statistics define the institutional structures awaiting every new generation. Keep exploring the data to see how historical and geographic contexts shape the boundaries of possibility. Where do YOU rank among everyone ever born? →