Share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in Australia
Australia: Share of children enrolled in pre-primary school was 85.8% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in Australia, 2001–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Australia recorded 85.8% for share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in 2024. That is the highest value across all 22 years on record.
The figure is up 2.1% on the previous year and up 76.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in Australia peaked at 85.8% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 30.1%, in 2010.
That places Australia 48th out of 178 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 22 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 36.6% | 31.0% | 41.6% | 9 |
| 2010s | 58.8% | 30.1% | 73.7% | 8 |
| 2020s | 80.2% | 72.2% | 85.8% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Australia
- 45 Cayman Islands 87.0% compare
- 46 Cook Islands 86.1% compare
- 47 Austria 86.0% compare
- 49 Czechia 85.3% compare
- 50 Dominica 83.9% compare
- 51 New Zealand 83.8% compare
More education data for Australia
- Duration of pre-primary education 2 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 64.2% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 17.7% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 5 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 99.6% (2024)
- Primary education, teachers 105,469 (1999)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.64 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 99.7% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in Australia?
- Share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in Australia was 85.8% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of children enrolled in pre-primary school recorded in Australia?
- The highest recorded value was 85.8% in 2024.
- What is the lowest share of children enrolled in pre-primary school recorded in Australia?
- The lowest recorded value was 30.1% in 2010.
- How does Australia rank for share of children enrolled in pre-primary school?
- Australia ranks 48th out of 178 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of children enrolled in pre-primary school rising or falling in Australia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 76.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Australia 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 enrolled in pre-primary school. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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About this data
The share of children of pre-primary school age (typically 3–5 years old) who are enrolled in pre-primary education.