Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Norway
Norway: Share of children in primary school age who are in school was 98.6% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Norway, 1820–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026); Lee and Lee (2016) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Norway recorded 98.6% for share of children in primary school age who are in school in 2024.
That represents a change of down 0.1% on the previous year and down 1.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of children in primary school age who are in school in Norway peaked at 100.0% in 1925 and was at its lowest, 48.5%, in 1820.
Norway ranks 57th of 209 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 57 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1820s | 49.9% | 48.5% | 51.3% | 2 |
| 1830s | 55.4% | 54.1% | 56.8% | 2 |
| 1840s | 60.9% | 59.5% | 62.2% | 2 |
| 1850s | 66.0% | 64.8% | 67.3% | 2 |
| 1860s | 70.9% | 69.7% | 72.0% | 2 |
| 1870s | 75.3% | 74.2% | 76.3% | 2 |
| 1880s | 79.3% | 78.3% | 80.2% | 2 |
| 1890s | 94.6% | 91.5% | 97.8% | 2 |
| 1900s | 97.1% | 96.0% | 98.2% | 2 |
| 1910s | 98.9% | 98.2% | 99.5% | 2 |
| 1920s | 99.7% | 99.3% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1930s | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1940s | 99.5% | 99.0% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1950s | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1960s | 93.9% | 87.7% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1970s | 94.5% | 89.0% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1980s | 98.0% | 98.0% | 98.0% | 1 |
| 2000s | 99.6% | 99.4% | 99.8% | 9 |
| 2010s | 99.5% | 99.2% | 99.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 98.9% | 98.6% | 99.1% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Norway
More education data for Norway
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 65.0% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 15.9% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 13 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 98.5% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 51,889 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.41 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 98.5% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of children in primary school age who are in school in Norway?
- Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Norway was 98.6% 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 Norway?
- The highest recorded value was 100.0% in 1925.
- What is the lowest share of children in primary school age who are in school recorded in Norway?
- The lowest recorded value was 48.5% in 1820.
- How does Norway rank for share of children in primary school age who are in school?
- Norway ranks 57th out of 209 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of children in primary school age who are in school rising or falling in Norway?
- Over the last ten years it is down 1.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Norway 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 — 57 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.