School-leaving age

The dropping out age is the minimum age a person is legally allowed to drop out of compulsory secondary education. Most countries have their school leaving age set the same as their minimum full-time employment age, thus allowing smooth transition from education into employment, whilst a few have it set just below the age at which a person is allowed to be employed.

In contrast, there are numerous countries that have several years between their school leaving age and their legal minimum employment age, thus in some cases preventing any such transition for several years. Countries which have their employment age set below the school leaving age (mostly developing countries), risk giving children the opportunity to leave their education early to earn money for their families.

Leaving age by country

Some countries have different leaving or employment ages, but in certain countries like China and Japan, the average age at which people graduate is 15, depending upon part-time or full-time learning or employment. The table below states the school leaving ages in countries across the world and their respective minimum employment age, showing a comparison of how many countries have synchronised these ages. All information is taken from the Right to Education Project's table unless otherwise indicated.^[1]

Legend

Color legend	Ages legend
School leaving age higher	0 denotes education is not compulsory. (13) denotes part-time employment available from 13
Employment age higher	0 denotes no minimum employment age as children could be, in theory, employed from birth
Both ages synchronised	― denotes no information available
No information / No age set	? denotes the age set is unknown

Africa

#	Country	De jure		Education/ Employment gap	Year	Notes
#	Country	School leaving age	Employment age Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA	Education/ Employment gap	Year	Notes

Asia

#	Country	De jure		Education/ Employment gap	Year	Notes
#	Country	School leaving age	Employment age Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA	Education/ Employment gap	Year	Notes

Europe

#	Country	De jure		Education/ Employment gap	Year	Notes
#	Country	School leaving age	Employment age Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA	Education/ Employment gap	Year	Notes

North America

#	Country	De jure		Education/ Employment gap	Year	Notes
#	Country	School leaving age	Employment age Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA\|-	Education/ Employment gap	Year	Notes

Oceania

#	Country	De jure		Education/ Employment gap	Year	Notes
#	Country	School leaving age	Employment age Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA	Education/ Employment gap	Year	Notes

South America

#	Country	De jure		Education/ Employment gap	Year	Notes
#	Country	School leaving age	Employment age Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA Template:SLA	Education/ Employment gap	Year	Notes

School retention by country

Country	2009 OECD^[2]	1986 Michael Hill^[3]
Country	Percentage in full-time education (aged 15-19)	Percentage in full-time education (aged 17)	Minimum leaving age limit
Australia	78	50	15
Austria	84
Belgium	91	86	16
Brazil	70
Canada	80	79	15/16
Czech Republic	93
Denmark	89	75	16/17
Estonia	89
Finland	90	91	17
France	90	80	16
Germany	93	100	16
Greece	88	55	14.5
Hungary	93
Iceland	88	41	15
Ireland	83
Israel	69
Italy	84	46	14
Japan		91	15
Luxembourg	95
Mexico	61
Netherlands	90	87	16
New Zealand	73	54	15
Norway	81	76	16
OECD average	84
Poland	94
Portugal	85
Slovak Republic	91
Slovenia	94
Spain	80	53	14
Sweden	88	86	16
Switzerland	85	83	15/16
Turkey	56
United Kingdom	78	49	16
United States	85	89	17

Notes

^ "Country Table - At What Age?...are school-children employed, married and taken to court". The Right to Education Project. Retrieved 2014-01-02.
^ Skills beyond school. p. 343. OECD. 2011
^ Percentage in full-time education at 17 related to termination ages for compulsory education in various countries (1986) Social Policy: A comparative analysis by Michael Hill

External links

Right to Education

[1] "Country Table - At What Age?...are school-children employed, married and taken to court". The Right to Education Project. Retrieved 2014-01-02.

[2] Skills beyond school. p. 343. OECD. 2011

[3] Percentage in full-time education at 17 related to termination ages for compulsory education in various countries (1986) Social Policy: A comparative analysis by Michael Hill

[1]

[2]

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