Duration of compulsory education in Ghana
Ghana: Duration of compulsory education was 11 years in 2025. ▲ Rising
Duration of compulsory education in Ghana, 1998–2025
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in years.
Analysis
In 2025, duration of compulsory education in Ghana stood at 11 years. That is the highest value across all 28 years on record.
The figure is unchanged over ten years.
Over the whole period, duration of compulsory education in Ghana peaked at 11 years in 2007 and was at its lowest, 9 years, in 1998.
Ghana ranks 65th of 205 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 28 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 9 years | 9 years | 9 years | 2 |
| 2000s | 9.6 years | 9 years | 11 years | 10 |
| 2010s | 11 years | 11 years | 11 years | 10 |
| 2020s | 11 years | 11 years | 11 years | 6 |
Countries ranked near Ghana
- 65 Antigua and Barbuda 11 years compare
- 65 Australia 11 years compare
- 65 Barbados 11 years compare
- 65 Belarus 11 years compare
- 65 Latvia 11 years compare
- 65 Lithuania 11 years compare
- 65 Monaco 11 years compare
- 65 Niue 11 years compare
- 65 Panama 11 years compare
- 65 Russia 11 years compare
- 65 Senegal 11 years compare
- 65 Seychelles 11 years compare
- 65 Slovakia 11 years compare
- 65 Sri Lanka 11 years compare
- 65 Switzerland 11 years compare
- 65 Tokelau 11 years compare
- 65 Ukraine 11 years compare
- 65 United Kingdom 11 years compare
- 65 Uzbekistan 11 years compare
More education data for Ghana
- Duration of pre-primary education 2 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 4 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 60.8% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 35.4% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 101.0% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 122,558 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 3.34 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 100.7% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is duration of compulsory education in Ghana?
- Duration of compulsory education in Ghana was 11 years in 2025, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest duration of compulsory education recorded in Ghana?
- The highest recorded value was 11 years in 2007.
- What is the lowest duration of compulsory education recorded in Ghana?
- The lowest recorded value was 9 years in 1998.
- How does Ghana rank for duration of compulsory education?
- Ghana ranks 65th out of 205 countries with data for 2025.
- Is duration of compulsory education rising or falling in Ghana?
- Over the last ten years it is unchanged. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Ghana data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Duration of compulsory education. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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CSV · JSON — 28 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
The number of years of compulsory education is based on students starting at the earliest entrance age, studying full-time, and advancing without grade repetition or skipping.