Duration of compulsory education in Lesotho
Lesotho: Duration of compulsory education was 7 years in 2025. ▬ Flat
Duration of compulsory education in Lesotho, 2010–2025
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in years.
Analysis
The most recent figure for duration of compulsory education in Lesotho is 7 years, measured in 2025. That is the highest value across all 16 years on record.
That represents a change of unchanged over ten years.
Over the whole period, duration of compulsory education in Lesotho peaked at 7 years in 2010 and was at its lowest, 7 years, in 2010.
Lesotho ranks 173rd of 205 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 7 years | 7 years | 7 years | 10 |
| 2020s | 7 years | 7 years | 7 years | 6 |
Countries ranked near Lesotho
More education data for Lesotho
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 62.0% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 13 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 34.1% (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 80.2% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 10,388 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 2.66 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 78.6% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is duration of compulsory education in Lesotho?
- Duration of compulsory education in Lesotho was 7 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 Lesotho?
- The highest recorded value was 7 years in 2010.
- What is the lowest duration of compulsory education recorded in Lesotho?
- The lowest recorded value was 7 years in 2010.
- How does Lesotho rank for duration of compulsory education?
- Lesotho ranks 173rd out of 205 countries with data for 2025.
- Is duration of compulsory education rising or falling in Lesotho?
- Over the last ten years it is unchanged. The long-run trend across the full record is flat.
- Where does this Lesotho 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.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 16 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.