Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in United States
United States: Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or was 98.8% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in United States, 1970–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
United States recorded 98.8% for educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in 2024. That is the highest value across all 22 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 3.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in United States peaked at 98.8% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 57.7%, in 1970.
United States ranks 9th of 94 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 22 years of available data.
Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in United States, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 57.7% | — |
| 2004 | 93.0% | +61.3% |
| 2005 | 92.6% | -0.4% |
| 2006 | 93.7% | +1.2% |
| 2007 | 97.8% | +4.5% |
| 2008 | 94.0% | -3.9% |
| 2009 | 94.4% | +0.4% |
| 2010 | 94.5% | +0.1% |
| 2011 | 94.7% | +0.2% |
| 2012 | 95.0% | +0.3% |
| 2013 | 95.1% | +0.1% |
| 2014 | 95.2% | +0.1% |
| 2015 | 95.3% | +0.1% |
| 2016 | 95.6% | +0.3% |
| 2017 | 98.4% | +3.0% |
| 2018 | 96.1% | -2.4% |
| 2019 | 98.5% | +2.5% |
| 2020 | 96.8% | -1.8% |
| 2021 | 98.7% | +2.0% |
| 2022 | 96.9% | -1.8% |
| 2023 | 98.8% | +1.9% |
| 2024 | 98.8% | +0.0% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 57.7% | 57.7% | 57.7% | 1 |
| 2000s | 94.3% | 92.6% | 97.8% | 6 |
| 2010s | 95.8% | 94.5% | 98.5% | 10 |
| 2020s | 98.0% | 96.8% | 98.8% | 5 |
Countries ranked near United States
More education data for United States
- Theoretical duration of upper secondary education (years), annual 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Theoretical duration of secondary education (years), annual growth 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Start of the academic school year (tertiary education), gaps filled 2,022 tertiary education (2023)
- Start of the academic school year (tertiary education), annual growth 0.0495 % change on previous year (2023)
- 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)
Frequently asked questions
- What is educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in United States?
- Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in United States was 98.8% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or recorded in United States?
- The highest recorded value was 98.8% in 2024.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or recorded in United States?
- The lowest recorded value was 57.7% in 1970.
- How does United States rank for educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or?
- United States ranks 9th out of 94 countries with data for 2024.
- Is educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or rising or falling in United States?
- Over the last ten years it is up 3.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this United States 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, rural, both sexes (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 22 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release