Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Denmark
Denmark: Share of children in primary school age who are in school was 99.1% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Denmark, 1820–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026); Lee and Lee (2016) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2024, share of children in primary school age who are in school in Denmark stood at 99.1%.
That represents a change of down 0.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of children in primary school age who are in school in Denmark peaked at 100.0% in 1880 and was at its lowest, 84.9%, in 1820.
Denmark ranks 45th of 209 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 56 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1820s | 85.6% | 84.9% | 86.3% | 2 |
| 1830s | 88.3% | 87.7% | 88.9% | 2 |
| 1840s | 90.5% | 90.0% | 91.0% | 2 |
| 1850s | 92.4% | 92.0% | 92.8% | 2 |
| 1860s | 94.0% | 93.6% | 94.3% | 2 |
| 1870s | 96.2% | 95.0% | 97.5% | 2 |
| 1880s | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1890s | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1900s | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1910s | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1920s | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1930s | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1940s | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1950s | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1960s | 99.0% | 98.0% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1970s | 98.0% | 96.0% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1980s | 96.0% | 96.0% | 96.0% | 1 |
| 2000s | 99.1% | 97.5% | 100.0% | 8 |
| 2010s | 99.5% | 99.3% | 99.6% | 10 |
| 2020s | 99.4% | 99.1% | 99.6% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Denmark
More education data for Denmark
- 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 15.6% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 13 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 99.8% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 42,105 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.52 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 99.6% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of children in primary school age who are in school in Denmark?
- Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Denmark was 99.1% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026); Lee and Lee (2016) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of children in primary school age who are in school recorded in Denmark?
- The highest recorded value was 100.0% in 1880.
- What is the lowest share of children in primary school age who are in school recorded in Denmark?
- The lowest recorded value was 84.9% in 1820.
- How does Denmark rank for share of children in primary school age who are in school?
- Denmark ranks 45th out of 209 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of children in primary school age who are in school rising or falling in Denmark?
- Over the last ten years it is down 0.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Denmark data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026); Lee and Lee (2016) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of children in primary school age who are in school. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 56 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
The share of children of primary school age (typically 6–11 years) who are enrolled in primary education.