Education

Compulsory education

SE.COM.DURS · yrs

Annual series published by the World Bank, compared across Italy, Spain, Netherlands, United States, China, South Sudan, Sudan, North Korea. 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.

Latest value, Italy: 12 yrs2025
Period covered: 1998 - 202528 annual values
Highest of the compared countries: 13 yrsNetherlands, 2025
Lowest of the compared countries: 8 yrsSouth Sudan, 2025

Countries compared

8 countries compared, that is the maximum. Remove one to add another.

Latest known valuesorted by value

Netherlands13 yrs2025
Italy12 yrs2025
United States12 yrs2025
North Korea12 yrs2025
Spain10 yrs2025
China9 yrs2025
South Sudan8 yrs2025
Sudan8 yrs2025

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	North Korea
2025	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	12 yrs
2024	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	12 yrs
2023	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	12 yrs
2022	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	12 yrs
2021	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	12 yrs
2020	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	12 yrs
2019	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	12 yrs
2018	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	12 yrs
2017	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	12 yrs
2016	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	12 yrs
2015	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	12 yrs
2014	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	12 yrs
2013	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	11 yrs
2012	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	11 yrs
2011	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	11 yrs
2010	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	8 yrs	11 yrs
2009	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs	11 yrs
2008	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs	8 yrs	6 yrs	11 yrs
2007	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs		6 yrs	11 yrs
2006	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs		6 yrs	11 yrs
2005	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs		6 yrs	11 yrs
2004	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs			11 yrs
2003	12 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs			11 yrs
2002	8 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs			11 yrs
2001	8 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs			11 yrs
2000	8 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs			11 yrs
1999	8 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs			11 yrs
1998	8 yrs	10 yrs	13 yrs	12 yrs	9 yrs			11 yrs
1997			13 yrs					11 yrs
1996								11 yrs
1995								11 yrs
1994								11 yrs
1993								11 yrs
1992								11 yrs
1991								11 yrs
1990								11 yrs
1989								11 yrs
1988								11 yrs
1987								11 yrs
1986								11 yrs
1985								11 yrs
1984								11 yrs
1983								11 yrs
1982								11 yrs
1981								11 yrs
1980								11 yrs
1979								11 yrs
1978								11 yrs
1977								11 yrs
1976								11 yrs
1975								11 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.

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.