Duration of compulsory education in Malawi
Malawi: Duration of compulsory education was 8 years in 2025. ▬ Flat
Duration of compulsory education in Malawi, 1998–2025
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in years.
Analysis
Malawi recorded 8 years for duration of compulsory education in 2025. That is the highest value across all 28 years on record.
That represents a change of unchanged over ten years.
Over the whole period, duration of compulsory education in Malawi peaked at 8 years in 1998 and was at its lowest, 8 years, in 1998.
Malawi ranks 161st of 205 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 8 years | 8 years | 8 years | 2 |
| 2000s | 8 years | 8 years | 8 years | 10 |
| 2010s | 8 years | 8 years | 8 years | 10 |
| 2020s | 8 years | 8 years | 8 years | 6 |
Countries ranked near Malawi
- 161 Belize 8 years compare
- 161 Croatia 8 years compare
- 161 Eritrea 8 years compare
- 161 Ethiopia 8 years compare
- 161 India 8 years compare
- 161 Micronesia (country) 8 years compare
- 161 Samoa 8 years compare
- 161 Serbia 8 years compare
- 161 Somalia 8 years compare
- 161 South Sudan 8 years compare
- 161 Sudan 8 years compare
More education data for Malawi
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 57.3% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 40.1% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 139.0% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 87,834 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 3.59 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 140.7% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is duration of compulsory education in Malawi?
- Duration of compulsory education in Malawi was 8 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 Malawi?
- The highest recorded value was 8 years in 1998.
- What is the lowest duration of compulsory education recorded in Malawi?
- The lowest recorded value was 8 years in 1998.
- How does Malawi rank for duration of compulsory education?
- Malawi ranks 161st out of 205 countries with data for 2025.
- Is duration of compulsory education rising or falling in Malawi?
- Over the last ten years it is unchanged. The long-run trend across the full record is flat.
- Where does this Malawi 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.