Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Nigeria
Nigeria: Share of children in primary school age who are in school was 75.7% in 2023. ▲ Rising
Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Nigeria, 1999–2023
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026); Lee and Lee (2016) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Nigeria recorded 75.7% for share of children in primary school age who are in school in 2023. That is the highest value across all 10 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 22.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of children in primary school age who are in school in Nigeria peaked at 75.7% in 2023 and was at its lowest, 61.1%, in 2008.
Nigeria ranks 186th of 209 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 10 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 61.4% | 61.4% | 61.4% | 1 |
| 2000s | 64.2% | 61.1% | 67.6% | 7 |
| 2010s | 61.9% | 61.9% | 61.9% | 1 |
| 2020s | 75.7% | 75.7% | 75.7% | 1 |
Countries ranked near Nigeria
More education data for Nigeria
- Duration of pre-primary education 1 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 5 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 56.4% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 40.5% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 89.6% (2023)
- Primary education, teachers 913,305 (2021)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 4.38 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 88.2% (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of children in primary school age who are in school in Nigeria?
- Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Nigeria was 75.7% in 2023, 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 Nigeria?
- The highest recorded value was 75.7% in 2023.
- What is the lowest share of children in primary school age who are in school recorded in Nigeria?
- The lowest recorded value was 61.1% in 2008.
- How does Nigeria rank for share of children in primary school age who are in school?
- Nigeria ranks 186th out of 209 countries with data for 2023.
- Is share of children in primary school age who are in school rising or falling in Nigeria?
- Over the last ten years it is up 22.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Nigeria 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 — 10 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.