Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in United States of America
United States of America: Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age was 3.0% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in United States of America, 2000–2025
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2025, out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in United States of America stood at 3.0%. That is the highest value across all 26 years on record.
That represents a change of up 25.0% on the previous year and up 76.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in United States of America peaked at 3.0% in 2025 and was at its lowest, 1.2%, in 2002.
That places United States of America 129th out of 206 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 26 years of available data.
Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in United States of America, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 1.5% | — |
| 2001 | 1.3% | -13.3% |
| 2002 | 1.2% | -7.7% |
| 2003 | 1.3% | +8.3% |
| 2004 | 1.5% | +15.4% |
| 2005 | 1.5% | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 1.5% | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 1.5% | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 1.6% | +6.7% |
| 2009 | 1.6% | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 1.6% | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 1.6% | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 1.6% | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 1.7% | +6.2% |
| 2014 | 1.8% | +5.9% |
| 2015 | 1.7% | -5.6% |
| 2016 | 1.5% | -11.8% |
| 2017 | 1.4% | -6.7% |
| 2018 | 1.5% | +7.1% |
| 2019 | 1.6% | +6.7% |
| 2020 | 1.7% | +6.2% |
| 2021 | 1.7% | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 1.8% | +5.9% |
| 2023 | 2.0% | +11.1% |
| 2024 | 2.4% | +20.0% |
| 2025 | 3.0% | +25.0% |
United States of America compared with similar countries
- United States of America's 3.0% is above the median for high income countries, which is 1.3%, 2.3× the median. (72 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 1.4% | 1.2% | 1.6% | 10 |
| 2010s | 1.6% | 1.4% | 1.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 2.1% | 1.7% | 3.0% | 6 |
Countries ranked near United States of America
More education data for United States of America
- Teachers in secondary education, both sexes (number), gaps filled 1.74 million (2023)
- Repeaters in primary education, all grades, both sexes (number), gaps 419,732 (2023)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, male (number), gaps filled 4.34 million (2023)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, female (number), gaps filled 4.14 million (2023)
- Secondary education, pupils, gaps filled 25.35 million (2023)
- Primary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, gaps filled 23.83 million (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, annual growth rate 1.33 % change on previous year (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, per capita 0.0708 units per person (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in United States of America?
- Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in United States of America was 3.0% 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 United States of America?
- The highest recorded value was 3.0% in 2025.
- What is the lowest out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age recorded in United States of America?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.2% in 2002.
- How does United States of America rank for out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age?
- United States of America ranks 129th out of 206 countries with data for 2025.
- Is out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age rising or falling in United States of America?
- Over the last ten years it is up 76.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this United States of America 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.
Download this data
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