Education · East Asia & Pacific · High income
Japan: education in numbers
Pre-primary enrolment is 86.7% (2015). Primary enrolment is 101.1% (2023), 86th of 191 in the world and 12th of 30 in East Asia & Pacific. Secondary enrolment is 101.5% (2023), 55th of 176 in the world and 6th of 26 in East Asia & Pacific.
Pre-primary enrolment
JapanEast Asia & PacificHigh incomeWorld
Primary enrolment
JapanEast Asia & PacificHigh incomeWorld
7 indicators
Education: Japan in detail
Latest reported value, world rank and rank within East Asia & Pacific; values around 2000, 2010, 2020; group and world columns are World Bank aggregates.
| Indicator | Latest | World rank | In region | ~2000 | ~2010 | ~2020 | 10-year change | Region | Income group | World | Since 2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-primary enrolmentPre-primary enrolment, % gross | 86.7%2015 | — | — | 81.8%1999 | · | · | +4.9 ppsince 1999 | 83.2% | 83.8% | 60.9% | |
| Primary enrolmentPrimary school enrolment, % gross | 101.1%2023 | 86/191 | 12/30 | · | · | 101.8% | +0.7 ppsince 2013 | 100.0% | 99.8% | 102.2% | |
| Secondary enrolmentSecondary school enrolment, % gross | 101.5%2023 | 55/176 | 6/26 | · | · | 101.3% | +0.5 ppsince 2013 | 92.0% | 103.2% | 77.3% | |
| Tertiary enrolmentTertiary enrolment, % gross | 64.5%2023 | 59/172 | 11/27 | · | · | 62.3% | +1.8 ppsince 2013 | 63.3% | 82.0% | 43.6% | |
| Out-of-school childrenChildren out of school, % of primary school age | 0.1%2023 | 174/178 | 28/29 | · | · | 0.1% | −1.1 ppsince 2013 | — | 2.5% | — | |
| Pupils per teacherPupils per teacher, primary | 15.72017 | 105/173 | 20/27 | · | · | · | — | 17.5 | 14.0 | 23.4 | |
| Education spendingPublic spending on education, % of GDP | 3.3%2021 | 126/184 | 22/29 | 3.5% | 3.6% | 3.3% | −0.3 ppsince 2011 | 3.5% | 4.7% | 3.6% |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0)“·” — no value reported within two years of that date. World rank counts countries with a recent value.
Better than ten years ago
- Pre-primary enrolment+4.9 pp86.7% in 2015
- Secondary enrolment+0.5 pp101.5% in 2023
- Tertiary enrolment+1.8 pp64.5% in 2023
- Out-of-school children−1.1 pp0.1% in 2023
Worse than ten years ago
No rated indicator got worse over the decade.
Only indicators where higher or lower is clearly better are rated (for example, unemployment down is better, life expectancy up is better).
neighbours
Japan and its neighbours
Countries sharing a land border with Japan. Latest values since 2005; the highest in each row is marked.
| Indicator | Japan | China | United States | Russia | Philippines | South Korea |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-primary enrolment | 86.7%2015 | 93.1%2021 | 72.4%2020 | 86.0%2019 | 90.2%2021 | 91.8%2020 |
| Primary enrolment | 101.1%2023 | 99.6%2024 | 97.0%2022 | 97.7%2023 | 94.0%2024 | 100.9%2024 |
| Secondary enrolment | 101.5%2023 | 92.3%2012 | 97.5%2022 | 92.5%2023 | 85.3%2024 | 96.3%2024 |
| Tertiary enrolment | 64.5%2023 | 76.9%2024 | 79.4%2022 | 60.4%2024 | 47.4%2024 | 111.9%2024 |
| Out-of-school children | 0.1%2023 | — | 4.0%2022 | 4.9%2023 | 11.6%2024 | 0.1%2024 |
| Pupils per teacher | 15.72017 | 16.42018 | 14.22017 | 21.32017 | 29.12017 | 16.32017 |
| Education spending | 3.3%2021 | 3.9%2023 | 5.4%2021 | 4.2%2023 | 4.0%2025 | 5.4%2022 |