Share of children who are not in pre-primary school in Malaysia
Malaysia: Share of children who are not in pre-primary school was 14.6% in 2024. ▼ Falling
Share of children who are not in pre-primary school in Malaysia, 1998–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2024, share of children who are not in pre-primary school in Malaysia stood at 14.6%.
The figure is down 14.6% on the previous year and down 15.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of children who are not in pre-primary school in Malaysia peaked at 30.4% in 1998 and was at its lowest, 13.2%, in 2017.
That places Malaysia 87th out of 179 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 21 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 23.0% | 15.7% | 30.4% | 2 |
| 2000s | 22.6% | 19.0% | 25.6% | 9 |
| 2010s | 16.0% | 13.2% | 17.9% | 5 |
| 2020s | 18.7% | 14.6% | 22.4% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Malaysia
- 84 Cape Verde 15.6% compare
- 85 El Salvador 15.4% compare
- 86 Nicaragua 14.9% compare
- 88 New Zealand 14.3% compare
- 89 Seychelles 13.9% compare
- 90 United States 13.5% compare
More education data for Malaysia
- Duration of pre-primary education 2 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 4 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 70.7% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 21.3% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 90.4% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 273,792 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.54 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 90.4% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of children who are not in pre-primary school in Malaysia?
- Share of children who are not in pre-primary school in Malaysia was 14.6% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of children who are not in pre-primary school recorded in Malaysia?
- The highest recorded value was 30.4% in 1998.
- What is the lowest share of children who are not in pre-primary school recorded in Malaysia?
- The lowest recorded value was 13.2% in 2017.
- How does Malaysia rank for share of children who are not in pre-primary school?
- Malaysia ranks 87th out of 179 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of children who are not in pre-primary school rising or falling in Malaysia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 15.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Malaysia data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of children who are not in pre-primary school. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 21 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Children one year before the official primary entry age (typically age 5) not enrolled in pre-primary education, expressed as a percentage of all children in that age group.