School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, both sexes in United States of America
United States of America: School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, both sexes was 16.28 years in 2018. ▲ Rising
School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, both sexes in United States of America, 1971–2018
Source: Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Measured in years.
Analysis
United States of America recorded 16.28 years for school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, both sexes in 2018.
That represents a change of down 0.2% on the previous year and up 2.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, both sexes in United States of America peaked at 16.31 years in 2017 and was at its lowest, 12.74 years, in 1971.
That places United States of America 32nd out of 183 countries with data for 2018, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 43 years of available data.
School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, both sexes in United States of America, year by year
| Year | years | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 12.74 years | — |
| 1972 | 12.82 years | +0.6% |
| 1974 | 12.96 years | +1.2% |
| 1975 | 13 years | +0.3% |
| 1976 | 13.3 years | +2.3% |
| 1977 | 13.23 years | -0.5% |
| 1978 | 13.26 years | +0.2% |
| 1979 | 12.81 years | -3.4% |
| 1980 | 14.09 years | +10.1% |
| 1981 | 14.1 years | +0.1% |
| 1982 | 14.47 years | +2.6% |
| 1983 | 14.42 years | -0.4% |
| 1984 | 14.5 years | +0.6% |
| 1985 | 14.45 years | -0.4% |
| 1986 | 14.66 years | +1.4% |
| 1987 | 14.85 years | +1.3% |
| 1990 | 15.42 years | +3.8% |
| 1991 | 15.48 years | +0.4% |
| 1993 | 16 years | +3.4% |
| 1994 | 16.03 years | +0.2% |
| 1995 | 16.02 years | -0.1% |
| 1996 | 15.96 years | -0.3% |
| 1998 | 15.96 years | -0.0% |
| 1999 | 15.38 years | -3.6% |
| 2000 | 15.13 years | -1.7% |
| 2001 | 15.35 years | +1.5% |
| 2002 | 15.41 years | +0.4% |
| 2003 | 15.56 years | +1.0% |
| 2004 | 15.61 years | +0.3% |
| 2005 | 15.76 years | +1.0% |
| 2006 | 15.75 years | -0.1% |
| 2007 | 15.84 years | +0.6% |
| 2008 | 15.95 years | +0.7% |
| 2009 | 16.05 years | +0.7% |
| 2010 | 16.05 years | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 16.15 years | +0.6% |
| 2012 | 16.14 years | -0.1% |
| 2013 | 16.15 years | +0.1% |
| 2014 | 16.15 years | -0.0% |
| 2015 | 16.19 years | +0.3% |
| 2016 | 16.27 years | +0.5% |
| 2017 | 16.31 years | +0.2% |
| 2018 | 16.28 years | -0.2% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 13.02 years | 12.74 years | 13.3 years | 8 |
| 1980s | 14.44 years | 14.09 years | 14.85 years | 8 |
| 1990s | 15.78 years | 15.38 years | 16.03 years | 8 |
| 2000s | 15.64 years | 15.13 years | 16.05 years | 10 |
| 2010s | 16.19 years | 16.05 years | 16.31 years | 9 |
Countries ranked near United States of America
More education data for United States of America
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, female (number), gaps filled 4.14 million (2023)
- Secondary education, pupils, gaps filled 25.35 million (2023)
- Primary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, gaps filled 23.83 million (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, annual growth rate 1.33 % change on previous year (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, per capita 0.0708 units per person (2023)
- Secondary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Enrolment in primary education, both sexes (number), gaps filled 23.83 million (2023)
- Enrolment in primary education, both sexes (number), annual growth 1.33 % change on previous year (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, both sexes in United States of America?
- School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, both sexes in United States of America was 16.28 years in 2018, according to Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
- What is the highest school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, both sexes recorded in United States of America?
- The highest recorded value was 16.31 years in 2017.
- What is the lowest school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, both sexes recorded in United States of America?
- The lowest recorded value was 12.74 years in 1971.
- How does United States of America rank for school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, both sexes?
- United States of America ranks 32nd out of 183 countries with data for 2018.
- Is school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, both sexes rising or falling in United States of America?
- Over the last ten years it is up 2.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this United States of America data come from?
- The figures come from Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), published as part of School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, both sexes (years). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 43 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Expected years of schooling is the number of years a child of school entrance age is expected to spend at school, or university, including years spent on repetition. It is the sum of the age-specific enrolment ratios for primary, secondary, post-secondary non-tertiary and tertiary education.