Switzerland: Gross intake ratio in first grade of primary education, total (% of relevant age group)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2017, Switzerland's gross intake ratio in first grade of primary education, total (% of relevant age group) rose 1.6 percentage points on 2016 (from 98.77% to 100.37%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1983 to 2016), the average change was −0.05 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.34 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.7 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 3.07 percentage points in 1987 and the biggest yearly fall was 7.47 percentage points in 1999. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2008 to 2017 the straight-line trend is upward, about 0.74 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 85% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 101.28% for 2020. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2015 to 2017 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 1.39%, against 3.53% for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

In 2017, Switzerland had the 26th highest value of the 55 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Switzerland in the 2017 ranking

• Austria — 23rd of 55: 101.01%
• Korea, Rep. — 24th of 55: 100.94%
• Czechia — 25th of 55: 100.47%
• Norway — 27th of 55: 100.23%
• Greece — 28th of 55: 99.94%
• Chile — 29th of 55: 99.84%

What this measures

Gross intake ratio in first grade of primary education is the number of new entrants in the first grade of primary education regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the population of the official primary entrance age.

Limitations: The quality of data is affected when new entrants and repeaters are not correctly distinguished in the first grade of primary education. Caution is also needed for countries with a total population under 100,000 since the United Nations Population Division neither publish nor endorse single-age data for those countries. The data are highly subject to fluctuations in migration and other factors.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 39 values

Gross intake ratio in first grade of primary education, total (% of relevant age group) in nearby economies

• Albania — 109.09% (2018)
• Armenia — 91.89% (2018)
• Austria — 101.01% (2017)
• Azerbaijan — 94.85% (2018)
• Belarus — 94.11% (2018)
• Belgium — 97.52% (2017)
• Bulgaria — 90.99% (2017)
• Croatia

More education data for Switzerland

• Primary school starting age (years) — 6 (2025)
• Primary education, duration (years) — 6 (2025)
• Lower secondary school starting age (years) — 12 (2025)
• Secondary education, duration (years) — 7 (2025)
• Primary education, pupils — 556,945 (2024)
• Government expenditure on education, total (% of GDP) — 4.86% (2022)
• School enrollment, primary (gross), gender parity index (GPI) — 0.99 (2020)
• Secondary education, pupils — 636,381 (2024)
• Expenditure on tertiary education (% of government expenditure on education) — 26% (2016)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Switzerland's gross intake ratio in first grade of primary education, total (% of relevant age group)?

100.37% in 2017, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SE.PRM.GINT.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Stat Bulk Data Download Service, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://uis.unesco.org/bdds, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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