Out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower in Iceland
Iceland: Out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower was 1.7% in 2023. ▲ Rising
Out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower in Iceland, 1998–2023
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
Iceland recorded 1.7% for out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower in 2023. That is the highest value across all 26 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 25.3% on the previous year and up 65.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower in Iceland peaked at 1.7% in 2023 and was at its lowest, 0.2%, in 2001.
That places Iceland 127th out of 169 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 26 years of available data.
Out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower in Iceland, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 0.5% | — |
| 1999 | 0.7% | +55.0% |
| 2000 | 0.2% | -65.9% |
| 2001 | 0.2% | -14.4% |
| 2002 | 0.4% | +77.3% |
| 2003 | 0.2% | -34.6% |
| 2004 | 0.4% | +77.9% |
| 2005 | 0.2% | -49.6% |
| 2006 | 0.4% | +90.5% |
| 2007 | 1.2% | +188.9% |
| 2008 | 1.2% | +4.7% |
| 2009 | 1.3% | +4.3% |
| 2010 | 1.0% | -18.5% |
| 2011 | 1.1% | +2.7% |
| 2012 | 1.0% | -3.3% |
| 2013 | 1.0% | +0.7% |
| 2014 | 1.0% | -2.4% |
| 2015 | 1.2% | +17.5% |
| 2016 | 1.0% | -12.4% |
| 2017 | 1.0% | -5.5% |
| 2018 | 1.1% | +6.5% |
| 2019 | 1.2% | +17.8% |
| 2020 | 1.3% | +5.6% |
| 2021 | 1.3% | +2.5% |
| 2022 | 1.4% | +2.6% |
| 2023 | 1.7% | +25.3% |
Iceland compared with similar countries
- Iceland's 1.7% is below the median for high income countries, which is 2.1%, 84% of the median. (64 countries reporting)
- Iceland's 1.7% is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 1.5%, 1.1× the median. (47 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower in Iceland changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | +188.9% | 0.4% | 1.2% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.7% | 2 |
| 2000s | 0.6% | 0.2% | 1.3% | 10 |
| 2010s | 1.1% | 1.0% | 1.2% | 10 |
| 2020s | 1.4% | 1.3% | 1.7% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Iceland
More education data for Iceland
- Repeaters in primary education, all grades, both sexes (number), gaps 0 (2023)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, male (number), gaps filled 6,661 (2023)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, female (number), gaps filled 6,167 (2023)
- Secondary education, pupils, gaps filled 37,056 (2023)
- Primary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, gaps filled 32,314 (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, annual growth rate -1.17 % change on previous year (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, per capita 0.0838 units per person (2023)
- Secondary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower in Iceland?
- Out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower in Iceland was 1.7% in 2023, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower recorded in Iceland?
- The highest recorded value was 1.7% in 2023.
- What is the lowest out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower recorded in Iceland?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.2% in 2001.
- How does Iceland rank for out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower?
- Iceland ranks 127th out of 169 countries with data for 2023.
- Is out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower rising or falling in Iceland?
- Over the last ten years it is up 65.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Iceland data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of Out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower secondary school age, male (%). 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