Education · East Asia & Pacific · High income
Macao: education in numbers
Pre-primary enrolment is 86.4% (2021), 66th of 176 in the world and 13th of 30 in East Asia & Pacific. Primary enrolment is 89.8% (2024), 165th of 191 in the world and 28th of 30 in East Asia & Pacific. Primary completion is 94.1% (2024), 89th of 168 in the world and 14th of 26 in East Asia & Pacific.
Pre-primary enrolment
MacaoEast Asia & PacificHigh incomeWorld
Primary enrolment
MacaoEast Asia & PacificHigh incomeWorld
12 indicators
Education: Macao 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 | 86.4%2021 | 66/176 | 13/30 | 93.9% | 89.2% | 90.4% | −8.3 ppsince 2011 | 83.2% | 83.8% | 60.9% | |
| Primary enrolmentPrimary school enrolment, % gross | 89.8%2024 | 165/191 | 28/30 | 103.5%2001 | 101.2% | 92.8% | −10.9 ppsince 2014 | 100.0% | 99.8% | 102.2% | |
| Primary completionPrimary completion rate, % of age group | 94.1%2024 | 89/168 | 14/26 | 97.9%2001 | 98.1% | 90.1% | −1.1 ppsince 2014 | 95.4% | 97.8% | 88.0% | |
| Secondary enrolmentSecondary school enrolment, % gross | 94.7%2024 | 82/176 | 12/26 | 82.4%2001 | 91.2% | 88.6% | −7.1 ppsince 2014 | 92.0% | 103.2% | 77.3% | |
| Lower secondary completionLower secondary completion rate, % of age group | 94.2%2024 | 64/168 | 15/26 | 70.4%2001 | 85.1% | 85.3% | −5.5 ppsince 2014 | 97.3% | 95.6% | 77.9% | |
| Tertiary enrolmentTertiary enrolment, % gross | 141.9%2024 | 2/172 | 1/27 | 50.4%2001 | 63.4% | 86.8% | +72.6 ppsince 2014 | 63.3% | 82.0% | 43.6% | |
| Out-of-school childrenChildren out of school, % of primary school age | 10.8%2024 | 41/178 | 5/29 | 12.4%2001 | 9.5% | 9.8% | +5.9 ppsince 2014 | — | 2.5% | — | |
| Adult literacyAdult literacy rate, % of people 15+ | 96.5%2016 | 51/141 | 11/23 | 91.3%2001 | 95.6%2011 | · | +3.0 ppsince 2006 | 96.6% | 97.7% | 87.7% | |
| Youth literacyYouth literacy rate, % of people 15–24 | 99.8%2016 | 24/148 | 4/23 | 99.6%2001 | 99.7%2011 | · | +0.2 ppsince 2006 | 99.1% | 99.3% | 93.1% | |
| Pupils per teacherPupils per teacher, primary | 13.52018 | 129/173 | 24/27 | 30.0 | 16.1 | 13.52018 | −26%since 2008 | 17.5 | 14.0 | 23.4 | |
| Education spendingPublic spending on education, % of GDP | 3.5%2023 | 120/184 | 20/29 | 3.3% | 2.6% | 6.4% | +1.5 ppsince 2013 | 3.5% | 4.7% | 3.6% | |
| Education, % of budgetEducation spending, % of government expenditure | 12.3%2022 | 99/179 | 16/28 | 11.8% | 13.0% | 14.2% | −10.1 ppsince 2012 | 13.0% | 12.0% | 14.0% |
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
- Tertiary enrolment+72.6 pp141.9% in 2024
- Adult literacy+3.0 pp96.5% in 2016
- Youth literacy+0.2 pp99.8% in 2016
- Pupils per teacher−26%13.5 in 2018
Worse than ten years ago
- Pre-primary enrolment−8.3 pp86.4% in 2021
- Primary completion−1.1 pp94.1% in 2024
- Secondary enrolment−7.1 pp94.7% in 2024
- Lower secondary completion−5.5 pp94.2% in 2024
Only indicators where higher or lower is clearly better are rated (for example, unemployment down is better, life expectancy up is better).
nearest countries
Macao and its nearest countries
Macao has no land border; compared with the closest countries by distance between capitals. Latest values since 2005; the highest in each row is marked.
| Indicator | Macao | Hong Kong | Vietnam | Philippines | Laos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-primary enrolment | 86.4%2021 | 93.6%2020 | 92.4%2021 | 90.2%2021 | 49.3%2021 |
| Primary enrolment | 89.8%2024 | 103.2%2024 | 106.3%2024 | 94.0%2024 | 93.1%2025 |
| Primary completion | 94.1%2024 | 91.7%2024 | 100.6%2024 | 91.4%2024 | 85.2%2025 |
| Secondary enrolment | 94.7%2024 | 107.2%2024 | 93.4%2022 | 85.3%2024 | 50.5%2025 |
| Lower secondary completion | 94.2%2024 | 129.5%2024 | 95.2%2024 | 84.8%2024 | 49.3%2025 |
| Tertiary enrolment | 141.9%2024 | 120.1%2024 | 37.6%2024 | 47.4%2024 | 14.9%2023 |
| Out-of-school children | 10.8%2024 | 1.4%2024 | 1.7%2024 | 11.6%2024 | 10.4%2025 |
| Adult literacy | 96.5%2016 | — | 96.1%2022 | 98.5%2020 | 75.6%2023 |
| Youth literacy | 99.8%2016 | — | 99.1%2022 | 99.8%2022 | 90.4%2023 |