Schooling around the world

School children in China spend more time at school than children in any other country. They have 251 schooldays a year – 59 days more than British children, and 71 more than American children. In the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Canada, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand children have 10, 11 or 12 years of education. In most African countries and parts of South America children spend just five or six years at school. Only two African countries, Gabon and Tunisia, have ten years of compulsory schooling. In Italy and China, children can legally finish school at the age of 14. In Myanmar, Angola and Pakistan, children are allowed to finish at the age of nine, after only four or five years at school. In several European countries, including Croatia, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland, parents don’t have to send their children to school until they are seven years old – two years later than in many other countries.