Out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, male in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone: Out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, male was 26.1% in 2025. ▼ Falling
Out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, male in Sierra Leone, 2000–2025
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
Sierra Leone recorded 26.1% for out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, male in 2025. That is the lowest value across all 26 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 11.8% on the previous year and down 50.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, male in Sierra Leone peaked at 53.2% in 2015 and was at its lowest, 26.1%, in 2025.
That places Sierra Leone 85th out of 206 countries with data for 2025, putting it 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 youth of upper secondary school age, male in Sierra Leone, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 44.3% | — |
| 2001 | 43.6% | -1.6% |
| 2002 | 43.7% | +0.2% |
| 2003 | 44.0% | +0.7% |
| 2004 | 45.5% | +3.4% |
| 2005 | 47.8% | +5.1% |
| 2006 | 48.9% | +2.3% |
| 2007 | 48.2% | -1.4% |
| 2008 | 46.9% | -2.7% |
| 2009 | 46.4% | -1.1% |
| 2010 | 47.1% | +1.5% |
| 2011 | 47.9% | +1.7% |
| 2012 | 48.9% | +2.1% |
| 2013 | 52.5% | +7.4% |
| 2014 | 53.1% | +1.1% |
| 2015 | 53.2% | +0.2% |
| 2016 | 52.0% | -2.3% |
| 2017 | 50.3% | -3.3% |
| 2018 | 48.0% | -4.6% |
| 2019 | 45.2% | -5.8% |
| 2020 | 42.6% | -5.8% |
| 2021 | 39.2% | -8.0% |
| 2022 | 36.1% | -7.9% |
| 2023 | 33.2% | -8.0% |
| 2024 | 29.6% | -10.8% |
| 2025 | 26.1% | -11.8% |
Sierra Leone compared with similar countries
- Sierra Leone's 26.1% is below the median for low income countries, which is 60.2%, 43% of the median. (24 countries reporting)
- Sierra Leone's 26.1% is below the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 50.2%, 52% of the median. (47 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 45.9% | 43.6% | 48.9% | 10 |
| 2010s | 49.8% | 45.2% | 53.2% | 10 |
| 2020s | 34.5% | 26.1% | 42.6% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Sierra Leone
- 82 Viet Nam 26.5% compare
- 83 Timor-Leste 26.4% compare
- 84 Naoero 26.2% compare
- 85 Palestine, State of 26.1% compare
- 87 Ecuador 24.2% compare
- 88 Brunei Darussalam 23.9% compare
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 youth of upper secondary school age, male in Sierra Leone?
- Out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, male in Sierra Leone was 26.1% in 2025, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, male recorded in Sierra Leone?
- The highest recorded value was 53.2% in 2015.
- What is the lowest out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, male recorded in Sierra Leone?
- The lowest recorded value was 26.1% in 2025.
- How does Sierra Leone rank for out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, male?
- Sierra Leone ranks 85th out of 206 countries with data for 2025.
- Is out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, male rising or falling in Sierra Leone?
- Over the last ten years it is down 50.9%. 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 youth of upper secondary school age, male (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