Share of the population with at least some formal education in Belgium
Belgium: Share of the population with at least some formal education was 97.0% in 2020. ▲ Rising
Share of the population with at least some formal education in Belgium, 1870–2020
Source: Barro and Lee (2015); Lee and Lee (2016) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2020, share of the population with at least some formal education in Belgium stood at 97.0%.
The figure is up 0.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of the population with at least some formal education in Belgium peaked at 98.8% in 1965 and was at its lowest, 52.8%, in 1875.
Belgium ranks 56th of 111 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 31 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1870s | 54.3% | 52.8% | 55.8% | 2 |
| 1880s | 55.5% | 54.9% | 56.2% | 2 |
| 1890s | 55.5% | 55.0% | 55.9% | 2 |
| 1900s | 58.7% | 57.5% | 59.9% | 2 |
| 1910s | 67.3% | 66.2% | 68.5% | 2 |
| 1920s | 72.1% | 70.5% | 73.7% | 2 |
| 1930s | 80.1% | 78.2% | 81.9% | 2 |
| 1940s | 90.8% | 87.7% | 93.9% | 2 |
| 1950s | 97.5% | 97.3% | 97.8% | 2 |
| 1960s | 98.5% | 98.2% | 98.8% | 2 |
| 1970s | 98.2% | 97.5% | 98.8% | 2 |
| 1980s | 96.1% | 95.8% | 96.4% | 2 |
| 1990s | 96.0% | 95.8% | 96.2% | 2 |
| 2000s | 96.3% | 95.8% | 96.8% | 2 |
| 2010s | 96.3% | 96.1% | 96.5% | 2 |
| 2020s | 97.0% | 97.0% | 97.0% | 1 |
Countries ranked near Belgium
More education data for Belgium
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 63.3% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 15.7% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 102.1% (2023)
- Primary education, teachers 80,763 (2023)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.38 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 102.1% (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of the population with at least some formal education in Belgium?
- Share of the population with at least some formal education in Belgium was 97.0% in 2020, according to Barro and Lee (2015); Lee and Lee (2016) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of the population with at least some formal education recorded in Belgium?
- The highest recorded value was 98.8% in 1965.
- What is the lowest share of the population with at least some formal education recorded in Belgium?
- The lowest recorded value was 52.8% in 1875.
- How does Belgium rank for share of the population with at least some formal education?
- Belgium ranks 56th out of 111 countries with data for 2020.
- Is share of the population with at least some formal education rising or falling in Belgium?
- Over the last ten years it is up 0.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Belgium data come from?
- The figures come from Barro and Lee (2015); Lee and Lee (2016) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of the population with at least some formal education. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 31 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Based on the population aged 15 years and older.