Canada vs United States: Average years of schooling vs. expected years of schooling

Canada

13.87 years

in 2023

United States

13.91 years

in 2023

Canada rank

5th

United States rank

3rd

Average years of schooling vs. expected years of schooling over time

United States currently reports 13.91 years against 13.87 years in Canada, a difference of 0.04 years.

The two have swapped places 2 times across 34 shared years of data; in 1990 it was United States ahead.

Canada ranks 5th and United States ranks 3rd of 192 countries.

Indicator: Average years of schooling vs. expected years of schooling
Unit: years
Source: UNDP, Human Development Report (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 192 places, 6,079 data points, 1990–2023
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Average number of years (excluding years spent repeating individual grades) adults over 25 years participated in formal education.