School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)
Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income): School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes was 0.4739 years in 2018. ◆ Volatile
School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income), 1970–2018
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in years.
Analysis
In 2018, school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) stood at 0.4739 years. That is the highest value across all 49 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 1.1% on the previous year and up 34.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) peaked at 0.4739 years in 2018 and was at its lowest, 0.0701 years, in 1971.
That places Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) 42nd out of 45 groups with data for 2018, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The series is highly variable year to year, so single readings are best treated with caution.
School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income), year by year
| Year | years | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 0.0703 years | — |
| 1971 | 0.0701 years | -0.3% |
| 1972 | 0.0713 years | +1.8% |
| 1973 | 0.0727 years | +1.9% |
| 1974 | 0.0761 years | +4.7% |
| 1975 | 0.0788 years | +3.6% |
| 1976 | 0.0817 years | +3.7% |
| 1977 | 0.0863 years | +5.6% |
| 1978 | 0.0921 years | +6.6% |
| 1979 | 0.0993 years | +7.9% |
| 1980 | 0.1047 years | +5.4% |
| 1981 | 0.1121 years | +7.0% |
| 1982 | 0.1188 years | +6.0% |
| 1983 | 0.122 years | +2.7% |
| 1984 | 0.1256 years | +3.0% |
| 1985 | 0.1323 years | +5.3% |
| 1986 | 0.1375 years | +4.0% |
| 1987 | 0.1401 years | +1.9% |
| 1988 | 0.1473 years | +5.1% |
| 1989 | 0.1548 years | +5.1% |
| 1990 | 0.1573 years | +1.6% |
| 1991 | 0.1622 years | +3.1% |
| 1992 | 0.167 years | +3.0% |
| 1993 | 0.1759 years | +5.3% |
| 1994 | 0.183 years | +4.1% |
| 1995 | 0.1874 years | +2.4% |
| 1996 | 0.1929 years | +2.9% |
| 1997 | 0.199 years | +3.2% |
| 1998 | 0.2037 years | +2.3% |
| 1999 | 0.2081 years | +2.2% |
| 2000 | 0.2269 years | +9.0% |
| 2001 | 0.2446 years | +7.8% |
| 2002 | 0.2622 years | +7.2% |
| 2003 | 0.2816 years | +7.4% |
| 2004 | 0.2939 years | +4.4% |
| 2005 | 0.3101 years | +5.5% |
| 2006 | 0.3221 years | +3.9% |
| 2007 | 0.3339 years | +3.7% |
| 2008 | 0.3523 years | +5.5% |
| 2009 | 0.375 years | +6.4% |
| 2010 | 0.4009 years | +6.9% |
| 2011 | 0.4181 years | +4.3% |
| 2012 | 0.4336 years | +3.7% |
| 2013 | 0.4472 years | +3.1% |
| 2014 | 0.458 years | +2.4% |
| 2015 | 0.4658 years | +1.7% |
| 2016 | 0.463 years | -0.6% |
| 2017 | 0.4686 years | +1.2% |
| 2018 | 0.4739 years | +1.1% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 0.0799 years | 0.0701 years | 0.0993 years | 10 |
| 1980s | 0.1295 years | 0.1047 years | 0.1548 years | 10 |
| 1990s | 0.1836 years | 0.1573 years | 0.2081 years | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.3003 years | 0.2269 years | 0.375 years | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.4477 years | 0.4009 years | 0.4739 years | 9 |
Countries ranked near Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)
More education data for Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)
- Primary education, pupils, gaps filled 196.79 million (2024)
- Secondary education, pupils, gaps filled 81.42 million (2024)
- Primary education, teachers, gaps filled 5.14 million (2024)
- Primary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 40.4% (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, annual growth rate 0.9733 % change on previous year (2024)
- Primary education, pupils, per capita 0.1526 units per person (2024)
- Secondary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 56.4% (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, per unit of GDP 0.0001 units per US$ of GDP (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
- School life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) was 0.4739 years in 2018, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
- The highest recorded value was 0.4739 years in 2018.
- What is the lowest school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.0701 years in 1971.
- How does Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) rank for school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes?
- Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) ranks 42nd out of 45 groups with data for 2018.
- Is school life expectancy, tertiary, both sexes rising or falling in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
- Over the last ten years it is up 34.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
- Where does this Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) 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 — 49 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.