Statizoid

Lower secondary school starting age in Sao Tome and Principe

Sao Tome and Principe: Lower secondary school starting age was 12 years in 2025. ▲ Rising

Latest (2025)
12 years
Change on year
unchanged
World rank
30th
of 209 countries
All-time high
13 years
in 1999
All-time low
11 years
in 1970
Years of data
56
1970–2025

Lower secondary school starting age in Sao Tome and Principe, 1970–2025

051015197019972025

Source: Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Measured in years.

Analysis

Sao Tome and Principe recorded 12 years for lower secondary school starting age in 2025.

That represents a change of unchanged over ten years.

Over the whole period, lower secondary school starting age in Sao Tome and Principe peaked at 13 years in 1999 and was at its lowest, 11 years, in 1970.

Sao Tome and Principe ranks 30th of 209 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 56 years of available data.

Lower secondary school starting age in Sao Tome and Principe, year by year

Year years Change
1970 11 years —
1971 11 years +0.0%
1972 11 years +0.0%
1973 11 years +0.0%
1974 11 years +0.0%
1975 11 years +0.0%
1976 11 years +0.0%
1977 11 years +0.0%
1978 11 years +0.0%
1979 11 years +0.0%
1980 11 years +0.0%
1981 11 years +0.0%
1982 11 years +0.0%
1983 11 years +0.0%
1984 11 years +0.0%
1985 11 years +0.0%
1986 11 years +0.0%
1987 11 years +0.0%
1988 11 years +0.0%
1989 11 years +0.0%
1990 11 years +0.0%
1991 11 years +0.0%
1992 11 years +0.0%
1993 11 years +0.0%
1994 11 years +0.0%
1995 11 years +0.0%
1996 11 years +0.0%
1997 11 years +0.0%
1998 11 years +0.0%
1999 13 years +18.2%
2000 13 years +0.0%
2001 13 years +0.0%
2002 13 years +0.0%
2003 13 years +0.0%
2004 13 years +0.0%
2005 13 years +0.0%
2006 12 years -7.7%
2007 12 years +0.0%
2008 12 years +0.0%
2009 12 years +0.0%
2010 12 years +0.0%
2011 12 years +0.0%
2012 12 years +0.0%
2013 12 years +0.0%
2014 12 years +0.0%
2015 12 years +0.0%
2016 12 years +0.0%
2017 12 years +0.0%
2018 12 years +0.0%
2019 12 years +0.0%
2020 12 years +0.0%
2021 12 years +0.0%
2022 12 years +0.0%
2023 12 years +0.0%
2024 12 years +0.0%
2025 12 years +0.0%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1970s 11 years 11 years 11 years 10
1980s 11 years 11 years 11 years 10
1990s 11.2 years 11 years 13 years 10
2000s 12.6 years 12 years 13 years 10
2010s 12 years 12 years 12 years 10
2020s 12 years 12 years 12 years 6

Countries ranked near Sao Tome and Principe

  1. 30 American Samoa 12 years compare
  2. 30 Andorra 12 years compare
  3. 30 Angola 12 years compare
  4. 30 Antigua and Barbuda 12 years compare
  5. 30 Argentina 12 years compare
  6. 30 Aruba 12 years compare
  7. 30 Australia 12 years compare
  8. 30 Bahrain 12 years compare
  9. 30 Belgium 12 years compare
  10. 30 Benin 12 years compare
  11. 30 Bhutan 12 years compare
  12. 30 Bolivia 12 years compare
  13. 30 British Virgin Islands 12 years compare
  14. 30 Brunei 12 years compare
  15. 30 Burkina Faso 12 years compare
  16. 30 Burundi 12 years compare
  17. 30 Cape Verde 12 years compare
  18. 30 Cambodia 12 years compare
  19. 30 Cameroon 12 years compare
  20. 30 Canada 12 years compare
  21. 30 Central African Republic 12 years compare
  22. 30 Chad 12 years compare
  23. 30 Chile 12 years compare
  24. 30 China 12 years compare
  25. 30 Democratic Republic of Congo 12 years compare
  26. 30 Congo 12 years compare
  27. 30 Costa Rica 12 years compare
  28. 30 Cote d'Ivoire 12 years compare
  29. 30 Cuba 12 years compare
  30. 30 Curacao 12 years compare
  31. 30 Cyprus 12 years compare
  32. 30 Dominica 12 years compare
  33. 30 Dominican Republic 12 years compare
  34. 30 Ecuador 12 years compare
  35. 30 Egypt 12 years compare
  36. 30 Fiji 12 years compare
  37. 30 Georgia 12 years compare
  38. 30 Ghana 12 years compare
  39. 30 Greece 12 years compare
  40. 30 Grenada 12 years compare
  41. 30 Guinea-Bissau 12 years compare
  42. 30 Guyana 12 years compare
  43. 30 Haiti 12 years compare
  44. 30 Honduras 12 years compare
  45. 30 Hong Kong 12 years compare
  46. 30 Iran 12 years compare
  47. 30 Iraq 12 years compare
  48. 30 Israel 12 years compare
  49. 30 Jamaica 12 years compare
  50. 30 Japan 12 years compare
  51. 30 Jordan 12 years compare
  52. 30 Kenya 12 years compare
  53. 30 Kiribati 12 years compare
  54. 30 North Korea 12 years compare
  55. 30 South Korea 12 years compare
  56. 30 Lebanon 12 years compare
  57. 30 Liberia 12 years compare
  58. 30 Libya 12 years compare
  59. 30 Liechtenstein 12 years compare
  60. 30 Luxembourg 12 years compare
  61. 30 Macao 12 years compare
  62. 30 Malawi 12 years compare
  63. 30 Malaysia 12 years compare
  64. 30 Maldives 12 years compare
  65. 30 Marshall Islands 12 years compare
  66. 30 Mauritania 12 years compare
  67. 30 Mexico 12 years compare
  68. 30 Micronesia (country) 12 years compare
  69. 30 Morocco 12 years compare
  70. 30 Nauru 12 years compare
  71. 30 Netherlands 12 years compare
  72. 30 Nicaragua 12 years compare
  73. 30 Nigeria 12 years compare
  74. 30 Palau 12 years compare
  75. 30 Panama 12 years compare
  76. 30 Paraguay 12 years compare
  77. 30 Peru 12 years compare
  78. 30 Philippines 12 years compare
  79. 30 Portugal 12 years compare
  80. 30 Puerto Rico 12 years compare
  81. 30 Qatar 12 years compare
  82. 30 Rwanda 12 years compare
  83. 30 Saudi Arabia 12 years compare
  84. 30 Senegal 12 years compare
  85. 30 Seychelles 12 years compare
  86. 30 Sierra Leone 12 years compare
  87. 30 Singapore 12 years compare
  88. 30 Sint Maarten (Dutch part) 12 years compare
  89. 30 Slovenia 12 years compare
  90. 30 Solomon Islands 12 years compare
  91. 30 South Sudan 12 years compare
  92. 30 Spain 12 years compare
  93. 30 Saint Kitts and Nevis 12 years compare
  94. 30 Saint Lucia 12 years compare
  95. 30 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 12 years compare
  96. 30 Sudan 12 years compare
  97. 30 Suriname 12 years compare
  98. 30 Switzerland 12 years compare
  99. 30 Syria 12 years compare
  100. 30 Thailand 12 years compare
  101. 30 East Timor 12 years compare
  102. 30 Togo 12 years compare
  103. 30 Tonga 12 years compare
  104. 30 Trinidad and Tobago 12 years compare
  105. 30 Tunisia 12 years compare
  106. 30 Turks and Caicos Islands 12 years compare
  107. 30 Tuvalu 12 years compare
  108. 30 United States 12 years compare
  109. 30 Uruguay 12 years compare
  110. 30 Vanuatu 12 years compare
  111. 30 Venezuela 12 years compare
  112. 30 United States Virgin Islands 12 years compare
  113. 30 Yemen 12 years compare

See the full ranking of 209 places →

More education data for Sao Tome and Principe

All data for Sao Tome and Principe →

Frequently asked questions

What is lower secondary school starting age in Sao Tome and Principe?
Lower secondary school starting age in Sao Tome and Principe was 12 years in 2025, according to Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
What is the highest lower secondary school starting age recorded in Sao Tome and Principe?
The highest recorded value was 13 years in 1999.
What is the lowest lower secondary school starting age recorded in Sao Tome and Principe?
The lowest recorded value was 11 years in 1970.
How does Sao Tome and Principe rank for lower secondary school starting age?
Sao Tome and Principe ranks 30th out of 209 countries with data for 2025.
Is lower secondary school starting age rising or falling in Sao Tome and Principe?
Over the last ten years it is unchanged. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Sao Tome and Principe data come from?
The figures come from Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), published as part of Lower secondary school starting age (years). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

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Lower secondary school starting age in Sao Tome and Principe. Statizoid, drawing on Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Retrieved 27 August 2026, from https://education.statizoid.com/stat/lower-secondary-school-starting-age-years/sao-tome-and-principe/

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About this data

Indicator
Lower secondary school starting age (years)
Unit
years
Source
Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
209 places, 11,411 data points, 1970–2025
Last refreshed

Lower secondary school starting age is the age at which students would enter lower secondary education, assuming they had started at the official entrance age for the lowest level of education, had studied full-time throughout and had progressed through the system without repeating or skipping a grade.