Share of children who have completed primary school in Nigeria
Nigeria: Share of children who have completed primary school was 76.8% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Share of children who have completed primary school in Nigeria, 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 Nigeria stood at 76.8%. That is the highest value across all 45 years on record.
That represents a change of up 0.4% on the previous year and up 4.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of children who have completed primary school in Nigeria peaked at 76.8% in 2025 and was at its lowest, 60.6%, in 1981.
That places Nigeria 131st out of 165 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 45 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 62.1% | 60.6% | 63.5% | 9 |
| 1990s | 66.2% | 63.8% | 69.5% | 10 |
| 2000s | 72.1% | 70.3% | 73.2% | 10 |
| 2010s | 73.7% | 73.0% | 75.0% | 10 |
| 2020s | 76.0% | 75.3% | 76.8% | 6 |
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 share of children who have completed primary school in Nigeria?
- Share of children who have completed primary school in Nigeria was 76.8% 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 Nigeria?
- The highest recorded value was 76.8% in 2025.
- What is the lowest share of children who have completed primary school recorded in Nigeria?
- The lowest recorded value was 60.6% in 1981.
- How does Nigeria rank for share of children who have completed primary school?
- Nigeria ranks 131st out of 165 countries with data for 2025.
- Is share of children who have completed primary school rising or falling in Nigeria?
- Over the last ten years it is up 4.3%. 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 Share of children who have completed primary school. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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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.