Official entrance age to compulsory education in Netherlands

Netherlands: Official entrance age to compulsory education was 5 years in 2020. ▬ Flat

Latest (2020)
5 years
Change on year
unchanged
World rank
133rd
of 195 countries
All-time high
5 years
in 1997
All-time low
5 years
in 1997
Years of data
24
1997–2020

Official entrance age to compulsory education in Netherlands, 1997–2020

0123451997200820201997: 5 years1998: 5 years1999: 5 years2000: 5 years2001: 5 years2002: 5 years2003: 5 years2004: 5 years2005: 5 years2006: 5 years2007: 5 years2008: 5 years2009: 5 years2010: 5 years2011: 5 years2012: 5 years2013: 5 years2014: 5 years2015: 5 years2016: 5 years2017: 5 years2018: 5 years2019: 5 years2020: 5 years

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in years.

Analysis

In 2020, official entrance age to compulsory education in Netherlands stood at 5 years. That is the highest value across all 24 years on record.

The figure is unchanged over ten years.

Over the whole period, official entrance age to compulsory education in Netherlands peaked at 5 years in 1997 and was at its lowest, 5 years, in 1997.

Netherlands ranks 133rd of 195 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.

Official entrance age to compulsory education in Netherlands, year by year

Annual values for Official entrance age to compulsory education (years) in Netherlands, 1997 to 2020.
Year years Change
1997 5 years
1998 5 years +0.0%
1999 5 years +0.0%
2000 5 years +0.0%
2001 5 years +0.0%
2002 5 years +0.0%
2003 5 years +0.0%
2004 5 years +0.0%
2005 5 years +0.0%
2006 5 years +0.0%
2007 5 years +0.0%
2008 5 years +0.0%
2009 5 years +0.0%
2010 5 years +0.0%
2011 5 years +0.0%
2012 5 years +0.0%
2013 5 years +0.0%
2014 5 years +0.0%
2015 5 years +0.0%
2016 5 years +0.0%
2017 5 years +0.0%
2018 5 years +0.0%
2019 5 years +0.0%
2020 5 years +0.0%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1990s 5 years 5 years 5 years 3
2000s 5 years 5 years 5 years 10
2010s 5 years 5 years 5 years 10
2020s 5 years 5 years 5 years 1

Countries ranked near Netherlands

  1. 133 Antigua and Barbuda 5 years compare
  2. 133 Austria 5 years compare
  3. 133 Azerbaijan 5 years compare
  4. 133 Bahamas 5 years compare
  5. 133 Barbados 5 years compare
  6. 133 Belize 5 years compare
  7. 133 Bermuda 5 years compare
  8. 133 British Virgin Islands 5 years compare
  9. 133 Bulgaria 5 years compare
  10. 133 Colombia 5 years compare
  11. 133 Cyprus 5 years compare
  12. 133 Dominica 5 years compare
  13. 133 Gibraltar 5 years compare
  14. 133 Greece 5 years compare
  15. 133 Grenada 5 years compare
  16. 133 Honduras 5 years compare
  17. 133 Latvia 5 years compare
  18. 133 Macau, China 5 years compare
  19. 133 Malta 5 years compare
  20. 133 Marshall Islands 5 years compare
  21. 133 Mauritius 5 years compare
  22. 133 Myanmar 5 years compare
  23. 133 Nicaragua 5 years compare
  24. 133 Pakistan 5 years compare
  25. 133 Paraguay 5 years compare
  26. 133 Philippines 5 years compare
  27. 133 Puerto Rico 5 years compare
  28. 133 Samoa 5 years compare
  29. 133 Sri Lanka 5 years compare
  30. 133 Saint Kitts and Nevis 5 years compare
  31. 133 Saint Lucia 5 years compare
  32. 133 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 5 years compare
  33. 133 Switzerland 5 years compare
  34. 133 Trinidad and Tobago 5 years compare
  35. 133 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 5 years compare
  36. 133 Viet Nam 5 years compare

See the full ranking of 195 places →

More education data for Netherlands

All data for Netherlands →

Frequently asked questions

What is official entrance age to compulsory education in Netherlands?
Official entrance age to compulsory education in Netherlands was 5 years in 2020, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
What is the highest official entrance age to compulsory education recorded in Netherlands?
The highest recorded value was 5 years in 1997.
What is the lowest official entrance age to compulsory education recorded in Netherlands?
The lowest recorded value was 5 years in 1997.
How does Netherlands rank for official entrance age to compulsory education?
Netherlands ranks 133rd out of 195 countries with data for 2020.
Is official entrance age to compulsory education rising or falling in Netherlands?
Over the last ten years it is unchanged. The long-run trend across the full record is flat.
Where does this Netherlands 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 — 24 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Official entrance age to compulsory education in Netherlands. Statizoid, drawing on UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 25 August 2026, from https://education.statizoid.com/stat/official-entrance-age-to-compulsory-education-years/netherlands/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://education.statizoid.com/stat/official-entrance-age-to-compulsory-education-years/netherlands/">Official entrance age to compulsory education in Netherlands</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Official entrance age to compulsory education (years)
Unit
years
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
195 places, 4,083 data points, 1975–2020
Last refreshed

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.