School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Costa Rica

Costa Rica: School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes was 2.82 years in 2019. ◆ Volatile

Latest (2019)
2.82 years
Change on year
up 2.3%
World rank
57th
of 183 countries
All-time high
2.82 years
in 2019
All-time low
0.4375 years
in 1970
Years of data
29
1970–2019

School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Costa Rica, 1970–2019

0.511.522.531970199420191970: 0.437 years1971: 0.483 years1972: 0.519 years1973: 0.571 years1978: 1 years1979: 1 years1980: 1 years1981: 1 years1982: 1 years1983: 1 years1984: 1 years1985: 1.1 years1986: 1.2 years1987: 1.3 years1988: 1.3 years1989: 1.3 years1990: 1.4 years1991: 1.5 years1992: 1.6 years2004: 1.3 years2011: 2.3 years2012: 2.4 years2013: 2.5 years2014: 2.6 years2015: 2.7 years2016: 2.7 years2017: 2.8 years2018: 2.8 years2019: 2.8 years

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in years.

Analysis

Costa Rica recorded 2.82 years for school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in 2019. That is the highest value across all 29 years on record.

Compared with earlier readings it is up 2.3% on the previous year and up 23.3% over ten years.

Over the whole period, school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Costa Rica peaked at 2.82 years in 2019 and was at its lowest, 0.4375 years, in 1970.

Costa Rica ranks 57th of 183 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.

The series is highly variable year to year, so single readings are best treated with caution.

School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Costa Rica, year by year

Annual values for School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes (years) in Costa Rica, 1970 to 2019.
Year years Change
1970 0.4375 years
1971 0.4832 years +10.5%
1972 0.5188 years +7.4%
1973 0.5709 years +10.0%
1978 1.03 years +79.6%
1979 1.04 years +1.3%
1980 1.01 years -3.0%
1981 1.04 years +3.4%
1982 1.02 years -1.8%
1983 1.01 years -1.2%
1984 1.03 years +2.0%
1985 1.1 years +6.2%
1986 1.15 years +5.1%
1987 1.25 years +8.6%
1988 1.25 years +0.2%
1989 1.34 years +6.7%
1990 1.35 years +1.0%
1991 1.45 years +7.6%
1992 1.58 years +8.4%
2004 1.33 years -15.4%
2011 2.29 years +71.9%
2012 2.41 years +5.0%
2013 2.45 years +1.9%
2014 2.61 years +6.6%
2015 2.65 years +1.6%
2016 2.68 years +1.1%
2017 2.79 years +3.9%
2018 2.76 years -1.0%
2019 2.82 years +2.3%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1970s 0.6791 years 0.4375 years 1.04 years 6
1980s 1.12 years 1.01 years 1.34 years 10
1990s 1.46 years 1.35 years 1.58 years 3
2000s 1.33 years 1.33 years 1.33 years 1
2010s 2.61 years 2.29 years 2.82 years 9

Countries ranked near Costa Rica

  1. 54 Iran, Islamic Republic of 2.89 years compare
  2. 55 Colombia 2.89 years compare
  3. 56 Switzerland 2.88 years compare
  4. 58 Czechia 2.81 years compare
  5. 59 Kuwait 2.77 years compare
  6. 60 Malta 2.76 years compare

See the full ranking of 228 places →

More education data for Costa Rica

All data for Costa Rica →

Frequently asked questions

What is school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Costa Rica?
School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Costa Rica was 2.82 years in 2019, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
What is the highest school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes recorded in Costa Rica?
The highest recorded value was 2.82 years in 2019.
What is the lowest school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes recorded in Costa Rica?
The lowest recorded value was 0.4375 years in 1970.
How does Costa Rica rank for school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes?
Costa Rica ranks 57th out of 183 countries with data for 2019.
Is school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes rising or falling in Costa Rica?
Over the last ten years it is up 23.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
Where does this Costa Rica data come from?
The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes (years). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 29 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Costa Rica. Statizoid, drawing on UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 27 August 2026, from https://education.statizoid.com/stat/school-life-expectancy-tertiary-both-sexes-years/costa-rica/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://education.statizoid.com/stat/school-life-expectancy-tertiary-both-sexes-years/costa-rica/">School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Costa Rica</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes (years)
Unit
years
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
228 places, 7,799 data points, 1970–2020
Last refreshed

Number of years a person of school entrance age can expect to spend within the specified level of education. For a child of a certain age a, the school life expectancy is calculated as the sum of the age specific enrolment rates for the levels of education specified. The part of the enrolment that is not distributed by age is divided by the school-age population for the level of education they are enrolled in, and multiplied by the duration of that level of education. The result is then added to the sum of the age-specific enrolment rates. A relatively high SLE indicates greater probability for children to spend more years in education and higher overall retention within the education system. It must be noted that the expected number of years does not necessarily coincide with the expected number of grades of education completed, because of repetition. Since school life expectancy is an average based on participation in different levels of education, the expected number of years of schooling may be pulled down by the magnitude of children who never go to school. Those children who are in school may benefit from many more years of education than the average.