Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone: Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age was 5.5% in 2025. ▼ Falling
Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Sierra Leone, 2000–2025
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2025, out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Sierra Leone stood at 5.5%. That is the lowest value across all 26 years on record.
That represents a change of down 25.7% on the previous year and down 83.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Sierra Leone peaked at 46.5% in 2002 and was at its lowest, 5.5%, in 2025.
Sierra Leone ranks 100th of 206 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 26 years of available data.
Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Sierra Leone, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 45.8% | — |
| 2001 | 46.1% | +0.7% |
| 2002 | 46.5% | +0.9% |
| 2003 | 46.2% | -0.6% |
| 2004 | 44.4% | -3.9% |
| 2005 | 41.7% | -6.1% |
| 2006 | 39.7% | -4.8% |
| 2007 | 38.5% | -3.0% |
| 2008 | 37.6% | -2.3% |
| 2009 | 37.1% | -1.3% |
| 2010 | 37.3% | +0.5% |
| 2011 | 38.4% | +2.9% |
| 2012 | 39.2% | +2.1% |
| 2013 | 37.7% | -3.8% |
| 2014 | 35.5% | -5.8% |
| 2015 | 32.9% | -7.3% |
| 2016 | 30.9% | -6.1% |
| 2017 | 28.0% | -9.4% |
| 2018 | 24.6% | -12.1% |
| 2019 | 21.7% | -11.8% |
| 2020 | 19.1% | -12.0% |
| 2021 | 16.3% | -14.7% |
| 2022 | 12.9% | -20.9% |
| 2023 | 9.8% | -24.0% |
| 2024 | 7.4% | -24.5% |
| 2025 | 5.5% | -25.7% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 42.4% | 37.1% | 46.5% | 10 |
| 2010s | 32.6% | 21.7% | 39.2% | 10 |
| 2020s | 11.8% | 5.5% | 19.1% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Sierra Leone
More education data for Sierra Leone
- Teachers in secondary education, both sexes (number), gaps filled 38,043 (2024)
- Repeaters in primary education, all grades, both sexes (number), gaps 73,295 (2024)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, male (number), gaps filled 85,708 (2024)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, female (number), gaps filled 92,723 (2024)
- Secondary education, pupils, gaps filled 1.16 million (2023)
- Primary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, gaps filled 2.07 million (2024)
- Primary education, pupils, annual growth rate 2.52 % change on previous year (2024)
- Primary education, pupils, per unit of GDP 0.0003 units per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Primary education, pupils, per capita 0.2393 units per person (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Sierra Leone?
- Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Sierra Leone was 5.5% in 2025, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age recorded in Sierra Leone?
- The highest recorded value was 46.5% in 2002.
- What is the lowest out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age recorded in Sierra Leone?
- The lowest recorded value was 5.5% in 2025.
- How does Sierra Leone rank for out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age?
- Sierra Leone ranks 100th out of 206 countries with data for 2025.
- Is out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age rising or falling in Sierra Leone?
- Over the last ten years it is down 83.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Sierra Leone data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age, female (modelled data) (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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CSV · JSON — 26 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release