School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female in OECD members

OECD members: School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female was 16.63 years in 2019. ▲ Rising

Latest (2019)
16.63 years
Change on year
up 0.1%
Rank
5th
of 43 groups
All-time high
16.63 years
in 2019
All-time low
10.25 years
in 1971
Years of data
50
1970–2019

School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female in OECD members, 1970–2019

051015197019942019

Source: Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Measured in years.

Analysis

OECD members recorded 16.63 years for school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female in 2019. That is the highest value across all 50 years on record.

That represents a change of up 0.1% on the previous year and up 7.8% over ten years.

Over the whole period, school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female in OECD members peaked at 16.63 years in 2019 and was at its lowest, 10.25 years, in 1971.

OECD members ranks 5th of 43 groups on this measure, in the top 10%.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 50 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1970s 10.77 years 10.25 years 11.33 years 10
1980s 12.18 years 11.68 years 12.71 years 10
1990s 13.57 years 12.78 years 14.29 years 10
2000s 14.86 years 14.23 years 15.44 years 10
2010s 16.23 years 15.58 years 16.63 years 10

Countries ranked near OECD members

  1. 2 Sweden 20.71 years compare
  2. 3 Belgium 20.55 years compare
  3. 4 Finland 20.3 years compare
  4. 5 Ireland 20.23 years compare
  5. 6 Iceland 20.21 years compare
  6. 7 New Zealand 19.88 years compare
  7. 8 Greece 19.46 years compare

See the full ranking of 220 places →

More gender data for OECD members

All data for OECD members →

Frequently asked questions

What is school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female in OECD members?
School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female in OECD members was 16.63 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 OECD members?
The highest recorded value was 16.63 years in 2019.
What is the lowest school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female recorded in OECD members?
The lowest recorded value was 10.25 years in 1971.
How does OECD members rank for school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female?
OECD members ranks 5th out of 43 groups with data for 2019.
Is school life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female rising or falling in OECD members?
Over the last ten years it is up 7.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this OECD members 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.

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School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female in OECD members. Statizoid, drawing on Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Retrieved 22 August 2026, from https://gender.statizoid.com/stat/school-life-expectancy-primary-to-tertiary-female-years/oecd-members/

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About this data

Indicator
School life expectancy, primary to tertiary, female (years)
Unit
years
Source
Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
220 places, 6,052 data points, 1970–2019
Last refreshed

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.