School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female in North America
North America: School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female was 16.95 years in 2019. ▲ Rising
School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female in North America, 1980–2019
Source: Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Measured in years.
Analysis
North America recorded 16.95 years for school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female in 2019. That is the highest value across all 40 years on record.
That represents a change of up 0.4% on the previous year and up 1.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female in North America peaked at 16.95 years in 2019 and was at its lowest, 14.5 years, in 1981.
That places North America 2nd out of 43 groups with data for 2019, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 40 years of available data.
School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female in North America, year by year
| Year | years | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 14.64 years | — |
| 1981 | 14.5 years | -1.0% |
| 1982 | 14.89 years | +2.7% |
| 1983 | 14.79 years | -0.7% |
| 1984 | 14.93 years | +0.9% |
| 1985 | 14.92 years | -0.1% |
| 1986 | 15.16 years | +1.6% |
| 1987 | 15.34 years | +1.2% |
| 1988 | 15.78 years | +2.8% |
| 1989 | 15.9 years | +0.8% |
| 1990 | 15.97 years | +0.5% |
| 1991 | 16.08 years | +0.7% |
| 1992 | 16.64 years | +3.5% |
| 1993 | 16.5 years | -0.8% |
| 1994 | 16.54 years | +0.2% |
| 1995 | 16.61 years | +0.4% |
| 1996 | 16.53 years | -0.5% |
| 1997 | 16.65 years | +0.7% |
| 1998 | 16.7 years | +0.3% |
| 1999 | 16.36 years | -2.1% |
| 2000 | 15.66 years | -4.3% |
| 2001 | 15.9 years | +1.5% |
| 2002 | 15.98 years | +0.5% |
| 2003 | 16.16 years | +1.1% |
| 2004 | 16.29 years | +0.9% |
| 2005 | 16.42 years | +0.8% |
| 2006 | 16.44 years | +0.1% |
| 2007 | 16.45 years | +0.1% |
| 2008 | 16.55 years | +0.6% |
| 2009 | 16.72 years | +1.0% |
| 2010 | 16.66 years | -0.4% |
| 2011 | 16.76 years | +0.6% |
| 2012 | 16.75 years | -0.1% |
| 2013 | 16.79 years | +0.3% |
| 2014 | 16.81 years | +0.1% |
| 2015 | 16.84 years | +0.2% |
| 2016 | 16.85 years | +0.1% |
| 2017 | 16.9 years | +0.3% |
| 2018 | 16.89 years | -0.0% |
| 2019 | 16.95 years | +0.4% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 15.08 years | 14.5 years | 15.9 years | 10 |
| 1990s | 16.46 years | 15.97 years | 16.7 years | 10 |
| 2000s | 16.26 years | 15.66 years | 16.72 years | 10 |
| 2010s | 16.82 years | 16.66 years | 16.95 years | 10 |
Countries ranked near North America
More gender data for North America
- Labor force, female 90.56 million (2025)
- Labor force, female, per capita 0.2361 units per person (2025)
- Labor force, female, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Labor force, female, annual growth rate 0.4331 % change on previous year (2025)
- Labor force, female, per square kilometre 4.96 units per square kilometre (2023)
- Ratio of female to male youth unemployment rate (% ages 15-24) 83.8% (2025)
- School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, male 15.76 years (2019)
- Proportion of women in ministerial level positions 43.9% (2025)
- Women of reproductive age 86.08 million (2023)
- Own-account workers, female (% of female employment) 5.4% (2016)
Frequently asked questions
- What is school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female in North America?
- School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female in North America was 16.95 years in 2019, according to Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
- What is the highest school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female recorded in North America?
- The highest recorded value was 16.95 years in 2019.
- What is the lowest school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female recorded in North America?
- The lowest recorded value was 14.5 years in 1981.
- How does North America rank for school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female?
- North America ranks 2nd out of 43 groups with data for 2019.
- Is school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female rising or falling in North America?
- Over the last ten years it is up 1.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this North 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, female (years). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 40 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.