Share of children who are not in pre-primary school in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone: Share of children who are not in pre-primary school was 37.2% in 2024. ▼ Falling
Share of children who are not in pre-primary school in Sierra Leone, 2012–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Sierra Leone recorded 37.2% for share of children who are not in pre-primary school in 2024.
That represents a change of down 2.9% on the previous year and down 44.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of children who are not in pre-primary school in Sierra Leone peaked at 68.4% in 2016 and was at its lowest, 35.8%, in 2022.
Sierra Leone ranks 41st of 179 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 10 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 63.9% | 57.8% | 68.4% | 6 |
| 2020s | 42.1% | 35.8% | 57.4% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Sierra Leone
More education data for Sierra Leone
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 59.1% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 37.7% (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 162.1% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 46,575 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 3.7 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 166.3% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of children who are not in pre-primary school in Sierra Leone?
- Share of children who are not in pre-primary school in Sierra Leone was 37.2% 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 Sierra Leone?
- The highest recorded value was 68.4% in 2016.
- What is the lowest share of children who are not in pre-primary school recorded in Sierra Leone?
- The lowest recorded value was 35.8% in 2022.
- How does Sierra Leone rank for share of children who are not in pre-primary school?
- Sierra Leone ranks 41st out of 179 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of children who are not in pre-primary school rising or falling in Sierra Leone?
- Over the last ten years it is down 44.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Sierra Leone 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
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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.