Educational attainment, at least completed primary, population 25+ years, total (%) (cumulative) - Country Ranking

Definition: The percentage of population ages 25 and over that attained or completed primary education.

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (http://uis.unesco.org/)

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

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Development Relevance: A relative high concentration of the adult population in a given level of education reflects the capacity of the educational system in the corresponding level of education. Educational attainment is closely related to the skills and competencies of a country's population, and could be seen as a proxy of both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the stock of human capital.

Limitations and Exceptions: Caution is required when using this indicator for cross-country comparison, since the countries do not always classify degrees and qualifications at the same International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) levels, even if they are received at roughly the same age or after a similar number of years of schooling. Also, certain educational programmes and study courses cannot be easily classified according to ISCED. This indicator only measures educational attainment in terms of level of education attained, i.e. years of schooling, and do not necessarily reveal the quality of the education (learning achievement and other impacts).

Statistical Concept and Methodology: It is calculated by dividing the number of population ages 25 and older who attained or completed primary education by the total population of the same age group and multiplying by 100. The number 0 means zero or small enough that the number would round to zero. Data are collected by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics mainly from national population census, household survey, and labour force survey. All the data are mapped to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) to ensure the comparability of education programs at the international level. The current version was formally adopted by UNESCO Member States in 2011.

Periodicity: Annual