Official entrance age to compulsory education in Germany
Germany: Official entrance age to compulsory education was 6 years in 2020. ▬ Flat
Latest (2020)
6 years
Change on year
unchanged
World rank
24th
of 195 countries
All-time high
6 years
in 1998
All-time low
6 years
in 1998
Years of data
23
1998–2020
Official entrance age to compulsory education in Germany, 1998–2020
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in years.
Analysis
The most recent figure for official entrance age to compulsory education in Germany is 6 years, measured in 2020. That is the highest value across all 23 years on record.
That represents a change of unchanged over ten years.
Over the whole period, official entrance age to compulsory education in Germany peaked at 6 years in 1998 and was at its lowest, 6 years, in 1998.
Germany ranks 24th of 195 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
Official entrance age to compulsory education in Germany, year by year
| Year | years | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 6 years | — |
| 1999 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2000 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2001 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2002 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2003 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2004 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2009 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2014 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 6 years | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 6 years | +0.0% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 6 years | 6 years | 6 years | 2 |
| 2000s | 6 years | 6 years | 6 years | 10 |
| 2010s | 6 years | 6 years | 6 years | 10 |
| 2020s | 6 years | 6 years | 6 years | 1 |
Countries ranked near Germany
- 24 Albania 6 years compare
- 24 Algeria 6 years compare
- 24 Andorra 6 years compare
- 24 Angola 6 years compare
- 24 Armenia 6 years compare
- 24 Australia 6 years compare
- 24 Bahrain 6 years compare
- 24 Bangladesh 6 years compare
- 24 Belarus 6 years compare
- 24 Belgium 6 years compare
- 24 Benin 6 years compare
- 24 Bosnia and Herzegovina 6 years compare
- 24 Brunei Darussalam 6 years compare
- 24 Burkina Faso 6 years compare
- 24 Cape Verde 6 years compare
- 24 Cameroon 6 years compare
- 24 Canada 6 years compare
- 24 Central African Republic 6 years compare
- 24 Chad 6 years compare
- 24 Chile 6 years compare
- 24 China (People’s Republic of) 6 years compare
- 24 Comoros 6 years compare
- 24 Congo, Democratic Republic of the 6 years compare
- 24 Congo 6 years compare
- 24 Côte d'Ivoire 6 years compare
- 24 Cuba 6 years compare
- 24 Czechia 6 years compare
- 24 Denmark 6 years compare
- 24 Djibouti 6 years compare
- 24 Egypt 6 years compare
- 24 Eritrea 6 years compare
- 24 Eswatini 6 years compare
- 24 Finland 6 years compare
- 24 Gabon 6 years compare
- 24 Georgia 6 years compare
- 24 Greenland 6 years compare
- 24 Guinea-Bissau 6 years compare
- 24 Guyana 6 years compare
- 24 Haiti 6 years compare
- 24 Hong Kong, China 6 years compare
- 24 Iceland 6 years compare
- 24 India 6 years compare
- 24 Iran, Islamic Republic of 6 years compare
- 24 Iraq 6 years compare
- 24 Ireland 6 years compare
- 24 Italy 6 years compare
- 24 Jamaica 6 years compare
- 24 Japan 6 years compare
- 24 Jordan 6 years compare
- 24 Kazakhstan 6 years compare
- 24 Kenya 6 years compare
- 24 Kiribati 6 years compare
- 24 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 6 years compare
- 24 Korea 6 years compare
- 24 Kuwait 6 years compare
- 24 Kyrgyzstan 6 years compare
- 24 Lao People's Democratic Republic 6 years compare
- 24 Lebanon 6 years compare
- 24 Lesotho 6 years compare
- 24 Liberia 6 years compare
- 24 Libya 6 years compare
- 24 Liechtenstein 6 years compare
- 24 Madagascar 6 years compare
- 24 Malawi 6 years compare
- 24 Malaysia 6 years compare
- 24 Maldives 6 years compare
- 24 Mauritania 6 years compare
- 24 Monaco 6 years compare
- 24 Mongolia 6 years compare
- 24 Montenegro 6 years compare
- 24 Morocco 6 years compare
- 24 New Zealand 6 years compare
- 24 Nigeria 6 years compare
- 24 North Macedonia 6 years compare
- 24 Norway 6 years compare
- 24 Oman 6 years compare
- 24 Palau 6 years compare
- 24 Poland 6 years compare
- 24 Portugal 6 years compare
- 24 Qatar 6 years compare
- 24 San Marino 6 years compare
- 24 Sao Tome and Principe 6 years compare
- 24 Saudi Arabia 6 years compare
- 24 Senegal 6 years compare
- 24 Seychelles 6 years compare
- 24 Sierra Leone 6 years compare
- 24 Singapore 6 years compare
- 24 Slovak Republic 6 years compare
- 24 Slovenia 6 years compare
- 24 South Sudan 6 years compare
- 24 Spain 6 years compare
- 24 Sudan 6 years compare
- 24 Sweden 6 years compare
- 24 Syrian Arab Republic 6 years compare
- 24 Thailand 6 years compare
- 24 Timor-Leste 6 years compare
- 24 Togo 6 years compare
- 24 Tunisia 6 years compare
- 24 Türkiye 6 years compare
- 24 Turkmenistan 6 years compare
- 24 Tuvalu 6 years compare
- 24 Uganda 6 years compare
- 24 Ukraine 6 years compare
- 24 United Arab Emirates 6 years compare
- 24 United States 6 years compare
- 24 Palestine, State of 6 years compare
- 24 Yemen 6 years compare
- 24 Zimbabwe 6 years compare
More education data for Germany
- Primary education, teachers, gaps filled 283,851 (2024)
- 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 62.4% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 13.9% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 10 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- Primary secondary enrollment completion rates, gaps filled 102.64 (2024)
- School enrollment, primary 102.6% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is official entrance age to compulsory education in Germany?
- Official entrance age to compulsory education in Germany was 6 years in 2020, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest official entrance age to compulsory education recorded in Germany?
- The highest recorded value was 6 years in 1998.
- What is the lowest official entrance age to compulsory education recorded in Germany?
- The lowest recorded value was 6 years in 1998.
- How does Germany rank for official entrance age to compulsory education?
- Germany ranks 24th out of 195 countries with data for 2020.
- Is official entrance age to compulsory education rising or falling in Germany?
- Over the last ten years it is unchanged. The long-run trend across the full record is flat.
- Where does this Germany data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of Official entrance age to compulsory education (years). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 23 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Official age when students should enter compulsory education assuming they start at the official entrance age for the lowest level of education, study full-time throughout and progressed through the system without repeating or skipping a grade. The theoretical entrance age to a given programme or level is typically, but not always, the most common entrance age.