Primary, secondary and tertiary education enrollment and completion rates in Nigeria
Nigeria: Primary, secondary and tertiary education enrollment and completion rates was 89.6% in 2023. ▲ Rising
Primary, secondary and tertiary education enrollment and completion rates in Nigeria, 1970–2023
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2023, primary, secondary and tertiary education enrollment and completion rates in Nigeria stood at 89.6%.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 6.9% on the previous year and up 2.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, primary, secondary and tertiary education enrollment and completion rates in Nigeria peaked at 110.6% in 1982 and was at its lowest, 25.6%, in 2015.
Nigeria ranks 189th of 217 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 47 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 57.8% | 41.9% | 89.3% | 8 |
| 1980s | 96.6% | 79.8% | 110.6% | 10 |
| 1990s | 86.4% | 76.8% | 91.6% | 8 |
| 2000s | 91.3% | 79.3% | 96.7% | 10 |
| 2010s | 76.1% | 25.6% | 87.8% | 8 |
| 2020s | 85.9% | 83.8% | 89.6% | 3 |
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 primary, secondary and tertiary education enrollment and completion rates in Nigeria?
- Primary, secondary and tertiary education enrollment and completion rates in Nigeria was 89.6% in 2023, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest primary, secondary and tertiary education enrollment and completion rates recorded in Nigeria?
- The highest recorded value was 110.6% in 1982.
- What is the lowest primary, secondary and tertiary education enrollment and completion rates recorded in Nigeria?
- The lowest recorded value was 25.6% in 2015.
- How does Nigeria rank for primary, secondary and tertiary education enrollment and completion rates?
- Nigeria ranks 189th out of 217 countries with data for 2023.
- Is primary, secondary and tertiary education enrollment and completion rates rising or falling in Nigeria?
- Over the last ten years it is up 2.0%. 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) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Primary, secondary and tertiary education enrollment and completion rates. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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About this data
Number of children of any age group who are enrolled in primary education, expressed as a percentage of the total population of the official primary school age.