Education

Compulsory education

SE.COM.DURS · yrs

Annual series published by the World Bank. The chart carries the trajectory, the table carries the year by year figures, and the definition at the foot of the page is the World Bank's own, quoted as it stands.

Countries compared

8 countries compared out of 142 available.

Latest known value: 12 yrs for Italy in 2025, over a series running from 1998 to 2025 and 8 countries compared, from the highest (Netherlands, 13 yrs) to the lowest (Guinea, 6 yrs).

Compare with the other education indicators

Latest known valueclick to hide

Year by year values

Click the Year header to reverse the order. An empty cell means the World Bank publishes nothing for that country that year.

Annual values by country
	Italy	Spain	Netherlands	United States	China	South Sudan	Sudan	Guinea
2025	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2024	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2023	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2022	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2021	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2020	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2019	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2018	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2017	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2016	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2015	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2014	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2013	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2012	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2011	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2010	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs
2009	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs	6 yrs
2008	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs	6 yrs
2007	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs		6 yrs	6 yrs
2006	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs		6 yrs	6 yrs
2005	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs		6 yrs	6 yrs
2004	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs			6 yrs
2003	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs			6 yrs
2002	8 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs			6 yrs
2001	8 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs			6 yrs
2000	8 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs			6 yrs
1999	8 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs			6 yrs
1998	8 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs			6 yrs
1997			13 yrs

World Bank definition

Compulsory education, duration (years)

Duration of compulsory education is the number of years that children are legally obliged to attend school.

Text published by the World Bank for indicator SE.COM.DURS, reproduced unchanged.

The same indicator across Europe & Central Asia

Latest known value for each country in the region, ranked from highest to lowest. Click a country to add it to your comparison: there is no longer any limit on how many countries you compare.

The same indicator across Europe & Central Asia

Source: World Bank, World Bank Open Data Annual series, fetched server side and cached for 24 hours. The World Bank is never called from your browser.