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Data for 2008

Mean Years of Schooling, 2008

2008, as UNDP Human Development Report Office’s 2025 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Mean Years of Schooling, 2008 covers 190 countries. Germany is highest, at 13.7600; Burkina Faso is lowest, at 1.0243. The middle country reads 8.1892. Against 2007, 188 values changed (174 up, 14 down), 1 country joined.

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Mean Years of Schooling · Data for 2008

HighestGermany

13.7600

LowestBurkina Faso

1.0243

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the better end.

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Mean Years of Schooling, 2008, as published. UNDP Human Development Report Office ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Showing 25 of 190 countries · select a heading to sort

Mean Years of Schooling, 2008: every country, as published by UNDP Human Development Report Office.
derived
1GermanyDEUWestern Europe13.7600
2CanadaCANNorthern America13.4160
3New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand13.3480
4EstoniaESTNorthern Europe13.2500
5United StatesUSANorthern America12.9900
6DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe12.8800
7United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe12.8100
8SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe12.8066
9IcelandISLNorthern Europe12.7400
10PalauPLWMicronesia12.5294
11NorwayNORNorthern Europe12.4800
12JapanJPNEastern Asia12.4410
13IsraelISRWestern Asia12.4200
14LatviaLVANorthern Europe12.3500
15FinlandFINNorthern Europe12.3300
=16LithuaniaLTUNorthern Europe12.3000
=16RussiaRUSEastern Europe12.3000
18GeorgiaGEOWestern Asia12.2680
19LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe12.2200
20CzechiaCZEEastern Europe12.1900
21PolandPOLEastern Europe12.1700
22SwedenSWENorthern Europe12.0700
23AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand11.9400
=24NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe11.9100
=24SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe11.9100

02In 2008

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

  1. 1Germany13.7600
  2. 2Canada13.4160
  3. 3New Zealand13.3480
  4. 4Estonia13.2500
  5. 5United States12.9900

Lowest

  1. 190Burkina Faso1.0243
  2. 189Niger1.4669
  3. 188Guinea1.5529
  4. 187Mali1.6720
  5. 186Chad1.7040

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 8.1892. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032007 → 2008

Since 2007

What changed between 2007 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

  • +1 / −0countries joined / left
  • 188values changed, of 189 in both
  • 174 · 14rose · fell
  • 1unchanged

Rose most

Fell most

  • Syria6.6100 → 6.1900−0.4200
  • Sweden12.4000 → 12.0700−0.3300
  • Kazakhstan11.5200 → 11.2650−0.2550
  • Iran9.6300 → 9.3900−0.2400
  • Lesotho5.6850 → 5.5400−0.1450
+ South Sudan

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

How values are stored

  • One year of the 2025 release

    Every year in this series comes from UNDP Human Development Report Office’s 2025 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 2008.

  • 185 distinct values among 190

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 9 decimals. 3 countries share 10.4100. Countries sharing a value share a position too.

  • The position is ours

    UNDP Human Development Report Office publishes values only; the order is this site’s.

  • Nothing missing

    Every one of the 190 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

UNDP Human Development Report Office (2008). Mean Years of Schooling, 2008 [data set], describing 2008. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/mean-years-schooling/2008

0634 held

Other years

07Questions

Mean Years of Schooling, 2008: questions and answers

Which country has the highest mean years of schooling in Mean Years of Schooling, 2008?

Germany, at 13.7600, of the 190 countries in the file.

What year does Mean Years of Schooling, 2008 describe?

2008.

How many countries does Mean Years of Schooling, 2008 cover?

190.

Where can I download Mean Years of Schooling, 2008?

On this page, as a CSV file holding every value exactly as published, or from the publisher’s own site, linked below.

Is Mean Years of Schooling, 2008 the newest?

No. The newest held here is Mean Years of Schooling, 2023.

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