Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Switzerland
Switzerland: Share of children in primary school age who are in school was 99.9% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Switzerland, 1820–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026); Lee and Lee (2016) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Switzerland recorded 99.9% 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 0.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of children in primary school age who are in school in Switzerland peaked at 100.0% in 1960 and was at its lowest, 63.6%, in 1820.
Switzerland ranks 15th of 209 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 54 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1820s | 64.4% | 63.6% | 65.1% | 2 |
| 1830s | 67.9% | 66.6% | 69.2% | 2 |
| 1840s | 73.1% | 71.8% | 74.4% | 2 |
| 1850s | 78.3% | 77.0% | 79.6% | 2 |
| 1860s | 83.5% | 82.2% | 84.8% | 2 |
| 1870s | 88.7% | 87.4% | 90.0% | 2 |
| 1880s | 94.5% | 92.6% | 96.4% | 2 |
| 1890s | 91.9% | 90.9% | 92.9% | 2 |
| 1900s | 90.1% | 89.0% | 91.2% | 2 |
| 1910s | 87.5% | 86.7% | 88.3% | 2 |
| 1920s | 86.2% | 85.4% | 87.0% | 2 |
| 1930s | 87.5% | 85.9% | 89.1% | 2 |
| 1940s | 84.1% | 81.3% | 86.9% | 2 |
| 1950s | 85.6% | 84.0% | 87.2% | 2 |
| 1960s | 90.1% | 80.1% | 100.0% | 2 |
| 1970s | 81.5% | 78.3% | 84.7% | 2 |
| 1980s | 92.1% | 92.1% | 92.1% | 1 |
| 2000s | 99.6% | 99.3% | 99.9% | 6 |
| 2010s | 99.7% | 98.6% | 100.0% | 10 |
| 2020s | 99.8% | 99.7% | 100.0% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Switzerland
More education data for Switzerland
- Duration of pre-primary education 2 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 4 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 64.7% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 14.9% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 101.2% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 58,349 (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.44 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 101.1% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of children in primary school age who are in school in Switzerland?
- Share of children in primary school age who are in school in Switzerland was 99.9% 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 Switzerland?
- The highest recorded value was 100.0% in 1960.
- What is the lowest share of children in primary school age who are in school recorded in Switzerland?
- The lowest recorded value was 63.6% in 1820.
- How does Switzerland rank for share of children in primary school age who are in school?
- Switzerland ranks 15th out of 209 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of children in primary school age who are in school rising or falling in Switzerland?
- Over the last ten years it is down 0.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Switzerland 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 — 54 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.