Duration of compulsory education in Sweden
Sweden: Duration of compulsory education was 10 years in 2025. ▲ Rising
Duration of compulsory education in Sweden, 1998–2025
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 Sweden is 10 years, measured in 2025. That is the highest value across all 28 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 11.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, duration of compulsory education in Sweden peaked at 10 years in 2019 and was at its lowest, 9 years, in 1998.
Sweden ranks 86th 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 years | 9 years | 9 years | 10 |
| 2010s | 9.1 years | 9 years | 10 years | 10 |
| 2020s | 10 years | 10 years | 10 years | 6 |
Countries ranked near Sweden
- 86 Algeria 10 years compare
- 86 Andorra 10 years compare
- 86 Angola 10 years compare
- 86 Burkina Faso 10 years compare
- 86 Canada 10 years compare
- 86 Cape Verde 10 years compare
- 86 Central African Republic 10 years compare
- 86 Chad 10 years compare
- 86 Congo 10 years compare
- 86 Cote d'Ivoire 10 years compare
- 86 Cyprus 10 years compare
- 86 Czechia 10 years compare
- 86 Denmark 10 years compare
- 86 Djibouti 10 years compare
- 86 Gabon 10 years compare
- 86 Greece 10 years compare
- 86 Iceland 10 years compare
- 86 Jordan 10 years compare
- 86 Kyrgyzstan 10 years compare
- 86 Lebanon 10 years compare
- 86 Macao 10 years compare
- 86 Moldova 10 years compare
- 86 New Zealand 10 years compare
- 86 Norway 10 years compare
- 86 Oman 10 years compare
- 86 Palestine 10 years compare
- 86 Romania 10 years compare
- 86 Saint Lucia 10 years compare
- 86 San Marino 10 years compare
- 86 Spain 10 years compare
- 86 Togo 10 years compare
- 86 Vietnam 10 years compare
More education data for Sweden
- Duration of pre-primary education 4 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 62.4% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 16.7% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 13 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 7 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 114.9% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 71,551 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.43 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 119.3% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is duration of compulsory education in Sweden?
- Duration of compulsory education in Sweden was 10 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 Sweden?
- The highest recorded value was 10 years in 2019.
- What is the lowest duration of compulsory education recorded in Sweden?
- The lowest recorded value was 9 years in 1998.
- How does Sweden rank for duration of compulsory education?
- Sweden ranks 86th out of 205 countries with data for 2025.
- Is duration of compulsory education rising or falling in Sweden?
- Over the last ten years it is up 11.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Sweden 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 — 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.