Countries are unequal in terms of how many years their children have to go to school.
In the United Kingdom it is compulsory to go to school for 12 years.
The table over the page gives you the number of years of compulsory education in 100 countries in the world, including those with the greatest and fewest years.
· Compulsory education is the number of years that a child must attend school.
· Investigating the length of compulsory education is useful because it tells us something about how well-educated the children are in that country. If the children have spent many years in school, they should be able to take skilled, professional and well-paid jobs and so be more useful to their country.
· The average number of years of compulsory education in the world is 8.8.
· But, just because a country has compulsory education, does not mean they enforce it. In many areas, children do not go to school if their parents need them at home – or at work.
· Compulsory education is longer in the rich countries of the world compared with the poor countries.
Education(number of years children attend school)
Afghanistan / 6
Angola / 4
Armenia / 11
Australia / 11
Azerbaijan / 11
Bangladesh / 5
Barbados / 12
Belgium / 13
Benin / 6
Bhutan / 11
Brunei / 12
Burma / 5
Burundi / 6
Cambodia / 6
Cameroon / 6
Canada / 11
Central African Republic / 6
Chad / 6
Costa Rica / 10
Czech Republic / 10
Denmark / 10
Dominica / 13
Dominican Republic / 10
Ecuador / 10
Equatorial Guinea / 5
Eritrea / 7
Ethiopia / 6
Finland / 10
France / 11
Gabon / 11
Germany / 13
Guatemala / 11
Guinea / 6
Guinea-Bissau / 6
Haiti / 6
Honduras / 6
Iceland / 11
Iraq / 6
Ireland / 10
Israel / 11
Kazakhstan / 11
Luxembourg / 10
Mauritius / 6
Moldova / 11
Nepal / 5
Netherlands / 13
New Zealand / 12
Nicaragua / 6
Niger / 6
Nigeria / 6
Norway / 11
Pakistan / 5
Panama / 6
Peru / 11
Puerto Rico / 10
Qatar / 6
Rwanda / 6
Samoa / 10
Saudi Arabia / 6
Senegal / 6
Seychelles / 10
Slovenia / 7
Somalia / 7
Spain / 11
Sudan / 7
Suriname / 6
Syria / 6
Togo / 10
Trinidad & Tobago / 7
Tunisia / 11
United Kingdom / 12
United States / 12
Uruguay / 10
Vietnam / 5