Share in poverty vs. educational attainment by country

Average years of formal education for individuals aged 15-64.

Countries reporting

143

Highest

15.48 years

Iceland

Lowest

6.05 years

Papua New Guinea

Median

10.91 years

Years covered

1980–2040

Data points

1,653

What the numbers show

Share in poverty vs. educational attainment is currently reported for 143 countries. The highest value is 15.48 years in Iceland; the lowest is 6.05 years in Papua New Guinea.

The median across all reporting countries is 10.91 years, and the mean is 10.67 years.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 3.

Over the past decade 136 countries rose and 5 fell. The largest increase was in Niger (up 37.1%), and the largest decrease in New Zealand (down 3.5%).

Share in poverty vs. educational attainment: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	Iceland	15.48 years	2040	up 6.0%	rising
2	South Korea	14.43 years	2040	up 1.5%	rising
3	Germany	14.28 years	2040	up 4.5%	rising
4	Singapore	14.19 years	2040	up 2.5%	rising
5	Hong Kong	14.12 years	2040	up 3.9%	rising
7	Taiwan	13.59 years	2040	up 2.3%	rising
8	Slovakia	13.56 years	2040	up 1.9%	flat
9	Malaysia	13.51 years	2040	up 5.4%	rising
10	United Kingdom	13.48 years	2040	up 2.0%	rising
11	Cuba	13.46 years	2040	up 8.2%	rising
12	United States	13.43 years	2040	up 0.3%	rising
13	Japan	13.38 years	2040	up 2.8%	rising
15	Cyprus	13.2 years	2040	up 2.9%	rising
16	Canada	13.13 years	2040	up 0.6%	rising
17	Fiji	12.98 years	2040	up 5.5%	rising
18	Czechia	12.97 years	2040	up 0.5%	rising
19	Switzerland	12.95 years	2040	unchanged	rising
20	Latvia	12.91 years	2040	up 4.4%	rising
21	Italy	12.83 years	2040	up 5.3%	rising
22	Australia	12.77 years	2040	down 0.6%	rising
23	Croatia	12.7 years	2040	up 2.6%	rising
24	France	12.57 years	2040	up 2.3%	rising
25	Trinidad and Tobago	12.39 years	2040	up 4.1%	rising
26	Serbia	12.36 years	2040	up 2.6%	rising
27	Mauritius	12.35 years	2040	up 8.5%	rising
28	Hungary	12.34 years	2040	up 1.6%	rising
28	Poland	12.34 years	2040	up 1.3%	rising
28	Tonga	12.34 years	2040	up 3.7%	rising
31	Kazakhstan	12.28 years	2040	up 2.3%	flat
31	Lithuania	12.28 years	2040	down 0.6%	flat
33	Libya	12.27 years	2040	up 12.3%	rising
34	Estonia	12.26 years	2040	up 0.4%	flat
34	Macao	12.26 years	2040	up 4.9%	rising
36	Gabon	12.24 years	2040	up 7.7%	rising
37	Slovenia	12.21 years	2040	up 0.6%	flat
38	Greece	12.2 years	2040	up 0.7%	rising
39	Norway	12.13 years	2040	up 0.4%	rising
40	Spain	12.1 years	2040	up 1.9%	rising
40	Israel	12.1 years	2040	up 0.3%	flat
43	Panama	12.05 years	2040	up 7.3%	rising
43	Tunisia	12.05 years	2040	up 13.0%	rising
45	Jordan	12.01 years	2040	up 5.2%	rising
46	Belgium	11.98 years	2040	up 1.2%	rising
46	Netherlands	11.98 years	2040	up 0.3%	rising
48	Mexico	11.97 years	2040	up 7.5%	rising
49	Sweden	11.93 years	2040	unchanged	rising
50	Iran	11.88 years	2040	up 9.9%	rising
51	Romania	11.85 years	2040	up 2.7%	rising
52	Kyrgyzstan	11.84 years	2040	up 3.9%	rising
53	Russia	11.8 years	2040	up 1.0%	rising
54	Thailand	11.75 years	2040	up 11.1%	rising
55	Sri Lanka	11.69 years	2040	up 6.6%	rising
56	Colombia	11.68 years	2040	up 6.6%	rising
57	Denmark	11.63 years	2040	down 0.5%	rising
57	Saudi Arabia	11.63 years	2040	up 8.0%	rising
59	Chile	11.61 years	2040	up 3.6%	rising
60	South Africa	11.49 years	2040	up 4.0%	rising
61	Belize	11.4 years	2040	up 3.4%	rising
62	Albania	11.39 years	2040	up 5.2%	rising
62	Botswana	11.39 years	2040	up 3.3%	rising
62	Indonesia	11.39 years	2040	up 10.5%	rising
65	Moldova	11.16 years	2040	up 2.3%	flat
66	Jamaica	11.15 years	2040	up 5.2%	rising
66	Peru	11.15 years	2040	up 5.7%	rising
68	Dominican Republic	11.12 years	2040	up 9.4%	rising
69	Brunei	11.11 years	2040	up 10.4%	rising
70	Bulgaria	11.1 years	2040	up 2.2%	rising
71	Portugal	11.06 years	2040	up 6.8%	rising
72	Armenia	11.04 years	2040	up 2.7%	rising
73	Mongolia	10.95 years	2040	up 5.1%	rising
74	China	10.92 years	2040	up 10.5%	rising
75	United Arab Emirates	10.91 years	2040	up 7.3%	rising
76	Finland	10.88 years	2040	down 0.7%	rising
76	Ukraine	10.88 years	2040	up 1.0%	flat
78	Argentina	10.87 years	2040	up 4.6%	rising
79	Ghana	10.86 years	2040	up 12.0%	rising
80	Bolivia	10.71 years	2040	up 8.2%	rising
80	Ecuador	10.71 years	2040	up 8.1%	rising
82	Paraguay	10.63 years	2040	up 9.1%	rising
83	Barbados	10.62 years	2040	up 4.8%	rising
84	Algeria	10.59 years	2040	up 13.0%	rising
85	Austria	10.57 years	2040	up 1.1%	rising
85	Philippines	10.57 years	2040	up 5.2%	rising
87	Tajikistan	10.56 years	2040	up 3.3%	flat
88	Togo	10.51 years	2040	up 13.7%	rising
89	Costa Rica	10.46 years	2040	up 7.2%	rising
90	Egypt	10.45 years	2040	up 12.0%	rising
91	Venezuela	10.43 years	2040	up 5.2%	rising
92	Iraq	10.37 years	2040	up 11.6%	rising
93	New Zealand	10.07 years	2040	down 3.5%	falling
94	India	10.03 years	2040	up 12.1%	rising
95	Vietnam	9.95 years	2040	up 9.1%	rising
96	Turkey	9.89 years	2040	up 7.6%	rising
97	Maldives	9.88 years	2040	up 8.8%	rising
97	El Salvador	9.88 years	2040	up 10.5%	rising
99	Nicaragua	9.84 years	2040	up 12.1%	rising
100	Morocco	9.75 years	2040	up 17.6%	rising
101	Guyana	9.7 years	2040	up 6.7%	rising
102	Cameroon	9.64 years	2040	up 14.5%	rising
103	Zambia	9.63 years	2040	up 6.4%	rising
104	Bahrain	9.6 years	2040	up 7.5%	rising
105	Benin	9.54 years	2040	up 19.7%	volatile
106	Reunion	9.49 years	2040	up 4.1%	rising
107	Syria	9.46 years	2040	up 8.6%	rising
108	Zimbabwe	9.36 years	2040	up 6.1%	rising
109	Brazil	9.31 years	2040	up 7.5%	rising
110	Honduras	9.3 years	2040	up 10.6%	rising
110	Uruguay	9.3 years	2040	up 3.2%	rising
112	Bangladesh	9.29 years	2040	up 12.7%	rising
113	Qatar	9 years	2040	up 3.6%	rising
114	Yemen	8.97 years	2040	up 22.5%	volatile
115	Laos	8.92 years	2040	up 20.1%	rising
116	Myanmar	8.87 years	2040	up 16.4%	rising
116	Uganda	8.87 years	2040	up 15.3%	rising
118	Cote d'Ivoire	8.79 years	2040	up 18.3%	rising
119	Liberia	8.78 years	2040	up 19.6%	rising
120	Eswatini	8.69 years	2040	up 13.2%	rising
121	Lesotho	8.67 years	2040	up 11.9%	rising
122	Tanzania	8.57 years	2040	up 10.6%	rising
123	Kenya	8.5 years	2040	up 11.7%	rising
124	Nepal	8.43 years	2040	up 14.4%	rising
125	Cambodia	8.28 years	2040	up 18.3%	rising
126	Haiti	8.19 years	2040	up 14.2%	rising
127	Guatemala	8.17 years	2040	up 12.8%	rising
128	Pakistan	8.14 years	2040	up 11.1%	rising
129	Afghanistan	7.92 years	2040	up 15.8%	volatile
130	Burundi	7.78 years	2040	up 18.4%	rising
130	Malawi	7.78 years	2040	up 17.5%	rising
132	Rwanda	7.76 years	2040	up 18.8%	rising
133	Namibia	7.74 years	2040	up 5.9%	rising
134	Sierra Leone	7.7 years	2040	up 20.9%	rising
135	Congo	7.56 years	2040	up 7.5%	rising
136	Mauritania	7.51 years	2040	up 15.5%	rising
137	Sudan	7.41 years	2040	up 28.0%	rising
138	Senegal	7.32 years	2040	up 25.8%	rising
139	Kuwait	7.3 years	2040	up 6.0%	rising
140	Democratic Republic of Congo	7.16 years	2040	up 19.3%	rising
141	Gambia	7.04 years	2040	up 19.5%	rising
142	Mozambique	6.94 years	2040	up 22.0%	volatile
143	Mali	6.86 years	2040	up 32.2%	volatile
144	Niger	6.21 years	2040	up 37.1%	volatile
145	Central African Republic	6.1 years	2040	up 11.5%	rising
146	Papua New Guinea	6.05 years	2040	up 12.7%	rising

About this data

Indicator: Share in poverty vs. educational attainment
Unit: years
Source: Barro and Lee (2015); Lee and Lee (2016) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 146 places, 1,653 data points, 1980–2040
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Average years of formal education for individuals aged 15-64.