Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Ethiopia
Ethiopia: Share of children in primary school age who are in school was 77.5% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Ethiopia, 1987–2024
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 Ethiopia stood at 77.5%.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 1.8% on the previous year and down 4.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of children in primary school age who are in school in Ethiopia peaked at 80.9% in 2014 and was at its lowest, 20.2%, in 1994.
That places Ethiopia 183rd out of 209 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 27 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 29.5% | 28.8% | 30.1% | 3 |
| 1990s | 27.8% | 20.2% | 35.1% | 5 |
| 2000s | 55.2% | 38.4% | 74.1% | 10 |
| 2010s | 76.8% | 71.8% | 80.9% | 5 |
| 2020s | 75.8% | 74.3% | 77.5% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Ethiopia
More education data for Ethiopia
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 4 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 57.9% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 38.8% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 13 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 7 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 84.4% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 338,716 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 3.91 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 81.4% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of children in primary school age who are in school in Ethiopia?
- Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Ethiopia was 77.5% 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 Ethiopia?
- The highest recorded value was 80.9% in 2014.
- What is the lowest share of children in primary school age who are in school recorded in Ethiopia?
- The lowest recorded value was 20.2% in 1994.
- How does Ethiopia rank for share of children in primary school age who are in school?
- Ethiopia ranks 183rd out of 209 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of children in primary school age who are in school rising or falling in Ethiopia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 4.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Ethiopia 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.
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CSV · JSON — 27 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.