Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia: Share of children in primary school age who are in school was 99.5% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Saudi Arabia, 1979–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026); Lee and Lee (2016) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
The most recent figure for share of children in primary school age who are in school in Saudi Arabia is 99.5%, measured in 2024. That is the highest value across all 13 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 2.4% on the previous year and up 5.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of children in primary school age who are in school in Saudi Arabia peaked at 99.5% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 69.3%, in 1979.
Saudi Arabia ranks 29th of 209 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 13 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 69.3% | 69.3% | 69.3% | 1 |
| 2000s | 98.0% | 98.0% | 98.0% | 1 |
| 2010s | 95.7% | 92.4% | 97.6% | 7 |
| 2020s | 97.7% | 96.6% | 99.5% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Saudi Arabia
More education data for Saudi Arabia
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 73.3% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 23.6% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 104.0% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 244,652 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 2.31 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 104.1% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of children in primary school age who are in school in Saudi Arabia?
- Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Saudi Arabia was 99.5% 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 Saudi Arabia?
- The highest recorded value was 99.5% in 2024.
- What is the lowest share of children in primary school age who are in school recorded in Saudi Arabia?
- The lowest recorded value was 69.3% in 1979.
- How does Saudi Arabia rank for share of children in primary school age who are in school?
- Saudi Arabia ranks 29th out of 209 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of children in primary school age who are in school rising or falling in Saudi Arabia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 5.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Saudi Arabia 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 — 13 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.