Share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in United States
United States: Share of children enrolled in pre-primary school was 61.2% in 2022. ▼ Falling
Share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in United States, 2005–2022
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
The most recent figure for share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in United States is 61.2%, measured in 2022.
The figure is up 13.7% on the previous year and down 4.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in United States peaked at 64.8% in 2014 and was at its lowest, 53.8%, in 2021.
United States ranks 98th of 178 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 11 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 64.3% | 64.3% | 64.3% | 1 |
| 2010s | 64.4% | 63.9% | 64.8% | 7 |
| 2020s | 59.8% | 53.8% | 64.4% | 3 |
Countries ranked near United States
More education data for United States
- Duration of pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre-primary education 3 years (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 64.5% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 17.1% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- School enrollment, primary 97.0% (2022)
- Primary education, teachers 1.78 million (2023)
- Fertility rate vs. average years of schooling 1.62 live births per woman (2024)
- School enrollment, primary, female 97.0% (2022)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in United States?
- Share of children enrolled in pre-primary school in United States was 61.2% 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 United States?
- The highest recorded value was 64.8% in 2014.
- What is the lowest share of children enrolled in pre-primary school recorded in United States?
- The lowest recorded value was 53.8% in 2021.
- How does United States rank for share of children enrolled in pre-primary school?
- United States ranks 98th out of 178 countries with data for 2022.
- Is share of children enrolled in pre-primary school rising or falling in United States?
- Over the last ten years it is down 4.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this United States 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.