Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in United States of America
United States of America: Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or was 87.4% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in United States of America, 1994–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
United States of America recorded 87.4% for educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in 2024.
That represents a change of up 0.3% on the previous year and down 0.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in United States of America peaked at 90.4% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 81.7%, in 1995.
United States of America ranks 25th of 34 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 31 years of available data.
Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in United States of America, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 82.3% | — |
| 1995 | 81.7% | -0.7% |
| 1996 | 83.1% | +1.7% |
| 1997 | 83.4% | +0.4% |
| 1998 | 83.5% | +0.2% |
| 1999 | 84.4% | +1.1% |
| 2000 | 84.7% | +0.3% |
| 2001 | 84.7% | +0.1% |
| 2002 | 84.4% | -0.4% |
| 2003 | 84.5% | +0.2% |
| 2004 | 84.6% | +0.1% |
| 2005 | 84.7% | +0.1% |
| 2006 | 85.0% | +0.3% |
| 2007 | 85.7% | +0.8% |
| 2008 | 86.2% | +0.7% |
| 2009 | 86.3% | +0.1% |
| 2010 | 86.6% | +0.4% |
| 2011 | 87.1% | +0.5% |
| 2012 | 87.3% | +0.2% |
| 2013 | 87.6% | +0.4% |
| 2014 | 88.0% | +0.5% |
| 2015 | 87.8% | -0.2% |
| 2016 | 88.5% | +0.8% |
| 2017 | 89.2% | +0.8% |
| 2018 | 89.5% | +0.3% |
| 2019 | 89.7% | +0.2% |
| 2020 | 90.4% | +0.8% |
| 2021 | 90.4% | -0.0% |
| 2022 | 86.6% | -4.2% |
| 2023 | 87.1% | +0.6% |
| 2024 | 87.4% | +0.3% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 83.0% | 81.7% | 84.4% | 6 |
| 2000s | 85.1% | 84.4% | 86.3% | 10 |
| 2010s | 88.2% | 86.6% | 89.7% | 10 |
| 2020s | 88.4% | 86.6% | 90.4% | 5 |
Countries ranked near United States of America
More education data for United States of America
- Primary education, teachers, gaps filled 1.78 million (2023)
- Duration of pre primary education, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Duration of pre primary education 3 (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre primary education 3 (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 64.5% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 17.1% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- Primary secondary enrollment completion rates, gaps filled 96.97 (2022)
- School enrollment, primary 97.0% (2022)
Frequently asked questions
- What is educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in United States of America?
- Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in United States of America was 87.4% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or recorded in United States of America?
- The highest recorded value was 90.4% in 2020.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or recorded in United States of America?
- The lowest recorded value was 81.7% in 1995.
- How does United States of America rank for educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or?
- United States of America ranks 25th out of 34 countries with data for 2024.
- Is educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or rising or falling in United States of America?
- Over the last ten years it is down 0.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this United States of America data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or higher, population 25+ years, immigrant background, male (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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CSV · JSON — 31 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release