School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Mexico
Mexico: School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes was 2.15 years in 2018. ▲ Rising
School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Mexico, 1971–2018
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in years.
Analysis
The most recent figure for school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Mexico is 2.15 years, measured in 2018. That is the highest value across all 45 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 2.4% on the previous year and up 58.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Mexico peaked at 2.15 years in 2018 and was at its lowest, 0.2658 years, in 1971.
Mexico ranks 74th of 183 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 45 years of available data.
School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Mexico, year by year
| Year | years | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 0.2658 years | — |
| 1972 | 0.2877 years | +8.3% |
| 1974 | 0.3837 years | +33.4% |
| 1975 | 0.4513 years | +17.6% |
| 1976 | 0.4926 years | +9.2% |
| 1977 | 0.4855 years | -1.4% |
| 1978 | 0.5441 years | +12.1% |
| 1979 | 0.6021 years | +10.7% |
| 1980 | 0.6716 years | +11.5% |
| 1981 | 0.7114 years | +5.9% |
| 1982 | 0.7397 years | +4.0% |
| 1983 | 0.7488 years | +1.2% |
| 1984 | 0.7679 years | +2.6% |
| 1986 | 0.7887 years | +2.7% |
| 1987 | 0.7766 years | -1.5% |
| 1988 | 0.8117 years | +4.5% |
| 1989 | 0.7899 years | -2.7% |
| 1990 | 0.7712 years | -2.4% |
| 1991 | 0.7476 years | -3.1% |
| 1993 | 0.7176 years | -4.0% |
| 1994 | 0.7423 years | +3.4% |
| 1995 | 0.7723 years | +4.0% |
| 1996 | 0.8289 years | +7.3% |
| 1997 | 0.8593 years | +3.7% |
| 1998 | 0.9632 years | +12.1% |
| 1999 | 0.964 years | +0.1% |
| 2000 | 1.02 years | +6.3% |
| 2001 | 1.06 years | +3.8% |
| 2002 | 1.15 years | +8.4% |
| 2003 | 1.19 years | +3.5% |
| 2004 | 1.23 years | +3.3% |
| 2005 | 1.26 years | +2.3% |
| 2006 | 1.29 years | +2.3% |
| 2007 | 1.32 years | +2.3% |
| 2008 | 1.35 years | +2.5% |
| 2009 | 1.38 years | +1.9% |
| 2010 | 1.43 years | +3.7% |
| 2011 | 1.42 years | -0.9% |
| 2012 | 1.54 years | +8.4% |
| 2013 | 1.6 years | +4.1% |
| 2014 | 1.62 years | +1.3% |
| 2015 | 1.65 years | +2.1% |
| 2016 | 2.02 years | +22.2% |
| 2017 | 2.1 years | +4.0% |
| 2018 | 2.15 years | +2.4% |
Mexico compared with similar countries
- Mexico's 2.15 years is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 1.96 years, 1.1× the median. (54 countries reporting)
- Mexico's 2.15 years is above the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 1.95 years, 1.1× the median. (35 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Mexico changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | +33.4% | 0.2877 years | 0.3837 years |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 0.4391 years | 0.2658 years | 0.6021 years | 8 |
| 1980s | 0.7563 years | 0.6716 years | 0.8117 years | 9 |
| 1990s | 0.8185 years | 0.7176 years | 0.964 years | 9 |
| 2000s | 1.23 years | 1.02 years | 1.38 years | 10 |
| 2010s | 1.72 years | 1.42 years | 2.15 years | 9 |
Countries ranked near Mexico
More education data for Mexico
- Teachers in secondary education, both sexes (number), gaps filled 868,550 (2023)
- Repeaters in primary education, all grades, both sexes (number), gaps 96,349 (2025)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, male (number), gaps filled 2.14 million (2024)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, female (number), gaps filled 2.11 million (2024)
- Secondary education, pupils, gaps filled 13.99 million (2024)
- Primary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, gaps filled 13.19 million (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, per capita 0.1 units per person (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Mexico?
- School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Mexico was 2.15 years in 2018, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes recorded in Mexico?
- The highest recorded value was 2.15 years in 2018.
- What is the lowest school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes recorded in Mexico?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.2658 years in 1971.
- How does Mexico rank for school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes?
- Mexico ranks 74th out of 183 countries with data for 2018.
- Is school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes rising or falling in Mexico?
- Over the last ten years it is up 58.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Mexico 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 — 45 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
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.