Share of the population with at least some formal education in Spain
Spain: Share of the population with at least some formal education was 99.3% in 2020. ▲ Rising
Share of the population with at least some formal education in Spain, 1870–2020
Source: Barro and Lee (2015); Lee and Lee (2016) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Spain recorded 99.3% for share of the population with at least some formal education in 2020. That is the highest value across all 31 years on record.
The figure is up 0.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of the population with at least some formal education in Spain peaked at 99.3% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 25.8%, in 1870.
That places Spain 20th out of 111 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 31 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1870s | 28.0% | 25.8% | 30.1% | 2 |
| 1880s | 37.7% | 35.1% | 40.2% | 2 |
| 1890s | 46.0% | 44.4% | 47.7% | 2 |
| 1900s | 50.7% | 50.0% | 51.4% | 2 |
| 1910s | 50.9% | 49.7% | 52.1% | 2 |
| 1920s | 46.3% | 45.2% | 47.4% | 2 |
| 1930s | 45.0% | 44.5% | 45.4% | 2 |
| 1940s | 44.2% | 43.3% | 45.2% | 2 |
| 1950s | 47.2% | 46.2% | 48.3% | 2 |
| 1960s | 54.8% | 52.2% | 57.4% | 2 |
| 1970s | 66.7% | 63.8% | 69.6% | 2 |
| 1980s | 76.9% | 75.9% | 77.9% | 2 |
| 1990s | 84.0% | 81.1% | 87.0% | 2 |
| 2000s | 95.5% | 91.9% | 99.1% | 2 |
| 2010s | 99.1% | 99.0% | 99.2% | 2 |
| 2020s | 99.3% | 99.3% | 99.3% | 1 |
Countries ranked near Spain
More education data for Spain
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 65.7% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 12.6% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 102.9% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 248,253 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.22 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 103.0% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of the population with at least some formal education in Spain?
- Share of the population with at least some formal education in Spain was 99.3% 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 Spain?
- The highest recorded value was 99.3% in 2020.
- What is the lowest share of the population with at least some formal education recorded in Spain?
- The lowest recorded value was 25.8% in 1870.
- How does Spain rank for share of the population with at least some formal education?
- Spain ranks 20th out of 111 countries with data for 2020.
- Is share of the population with at least some formal education rising or falling in Spain?
- Over the last ten years it is up 0.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Spain 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.