Share of children who have completed primary school in China
China: Share of children who have completed primary school was 99.0% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Share of children who have completed primary school in China, 1981–2025
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2025, share of children who have completed primary school in China stood at 99.0%. That is the highest value across all 45 years on record.
The figure is up 0.1% on the previous year and up 1.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of children who have completed primary school in China peaked at 99.0% in 2025 and was at its lowest, 82.1%, in 1981.
That places China 57th out of 165 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 45 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 84.1% | 82.1% | 86.2% | 9 |
| 1990s | 89.2% | 86.6% | 91.4% | 10 |
| 2000s | 94.4% | 92.0% | 96.3% | 10 |
| 2010s | 97.3% | 96.6% | 98.2% | 10 |
| 2020s | 98.7% | 98.4% | 99.0% | 6 |
Countries ranked near China
More education data for China
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 69.7% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 15.4% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 99.6% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 6.74 million (2024)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.01 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 100.7% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of children who have completed primary school in China?
- Share of children who have completed primary school in China was 99.0% in 2025, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of children who have completed primary school recorded in China?
- The highest recorded value was 99.0% in 2025.
- What is the lowest share of children who have completed primary school recorded in China?
- The lowest recorded value was 82.1% in 1981.
- How does China rank for share of children who have completed primary school?
- China ranks 57th out of 165 countries with data for 2025.
- Is share of children who have completed primary school rising or falling in China?
- Over the last ten years it is up 1.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this China data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of children who have completed primary school. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 45 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
The share of children who are three to five years older than the official age for the last grade of primary education who have successfully completed it. This broader age band is used to include children who started school late or had to resit particular years.