Share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in Ireland
Ireland: Share of children enrolled in pre-primary school was 83.1% in 2022. ▲ Rising
Share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in Ireland, 2012–2022
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Ireland recorded 83.1% for share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in 2022.
The figure is up 0.4% on the previous year and up 41.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in Ireland peaked at 88.0% in 2019 and was at its lowest, 58.8%, in 2012.
That places Ireland 53rd out of 178 regions with data for 2022, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 11 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 70.1% | 58.8% | 88.0% | 8 |
| 2020s | 84.5% | 82.8% | 87.4% | 3 |
Countries ranked near Ireland
More education data for Ireland
- Duration of pre-primary education 2 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 65.7% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 18.1% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 13 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 5 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 96.5% (2022)
- Primary education, teachers 42,162 (2023)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.6 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 97.6% (2022)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in Ireland?
- Share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in Ireland was 83.1% in 2022, 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 Ireland?
- The highest recorded value was 88.0% in 2019.
- What is the lowest share of children enrolled in pre-primary school recorded in Ireland?
- The lowest recorded value was 58.8% in 2012.
- How does Ireland rank for share of children enrolled in pre-primary school?
- Ireland ranks 53rd out of 178 regions with data for 2022.
- Is share of children enrolled in pre-primary school rising or falling in Ireland?
- Over the last ten years it is up 41.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Ireland 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.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 11 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
The share of children of pre-primary school age (typically 3–5 years old) who are enrolled in pre-primary education.