Compulsory education, duration in South Asia (IDA & IBRD)
South Asia (IDA & IBRD): Compulsory education, duration was 8.5 years in 2025. β² Rising
Compulsory education, duration in South Asia (IDA & IBRD), 1998β2025
Source: Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Measured in years.
Analysis
South Asia (IDA & IBRD) recorded 8.5 years for compulsory education, duration in 2025. That is the highest value across all 28 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is unchanged over ten years.
Over the whole period, compulsory education, duration in South Asia (IDA & IBRD) peaked at 8.5 years in 2015 and was at its lowest, 7 years, in 1998.
That places South Asia (IDA & IBRD) 37th out of 45 groups with data for 2025, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 28 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 7 years | 7 years | 7 years | 2 |
| 2000s | 7.1 years | 7 years | 8 years | 10 |
| 2010s | 8.25 years | 8 years | 8.5 years | 10 |
| 2020s | 8.5 years | 8.5 years | 8.5 years | 6 |
More education data for South Asia (IDA & IBRD)
- Population ages 15-64 68.1% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 24.6% (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 119.0% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 5.84 million (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 119.2% (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, male 118.8% (2024)
- Labor force, female 29.1% (2025)
- Labor force, total 709.68 million (2025)
- School enrollment, primary (gross), gender parity index 0.991 GPI (2020)
- Human capital composite index -0.0881 standard deviations from the yearly mean (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is compulsory education, duration in South Asia (IDA & IBRD)?
- Compulsory education, duration in South Asia (IDA & IBRD) was 8.5 years in 2025, according to Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
- What is the highest compulsory education, duration recorded in South Asia (IDA & IBRD)?
- The highest recorded value was 8.5 years in 2015.
- What is the lowest compulsory education, duration recorded in South Asia (IDA & IBRD)?
- The lowest recorded value was 7 years in 1998.
- How does South Asia (IDA & IBRD) rank for compulsory education, duration?
- South Asia (IDA & IBRD) ranks 37th out of 45 groups with data for 2025.
- Is compulsory education, duration rising or falling in South Asia (IDA & IBRD)?
- Over the last ten years it is unchanged. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this South Asia (IDA & IBRD) data come from?
- The figures come from Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), published as part of Compulsory education, duration (years). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV Β· JSON β 28 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Duration of compulsory education is the number of years that children are legally obliged to attend school.