Based on a comparison of 155 countries in 2021, India ranked the highest in number of pupils in primary education with 122,028 '000 followed by China and Nigeria. On the other end of the scale was Monaco with 1.93 '000, Liechtenstein with 1.98 '000 and Cayman Islands with 4.53 '000.
Data for more countries are available at Number of Pupils (Primary Education) indicator page.
| Number of Pupils (Primary Education) | Unit | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| Bangladesh | '000 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 19,068 | 18,605 | 17,195 | 17,338 | ... | ||||||||||||
| Brazil | '000 | ... | 16,299 | 16,119 | 16,107 | 15,952 | 15,690 | ... | ||||||||||||||
| China | '000 | ... | ... | 95,958 | 98,189 | 100,321 | 101,873 | 104,325 | ||||||||||||||
| Dem. Republic of the Congo | '000 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 13,763 | ... | ... | 16,807 | ... | ... | ||||||||||
| Egypt | '000 | ... | ... | 11,764 | 12,161 | 12,643 | 13,265 | ... | ... | |||||||||||||
| Ethiopia | '000 | 16,198 | 16,695 | 16,845 | 16,998 | 16,358 | ||||||||||||||||
| India | '000 | 127,828 | 126,564 | 123,808 | 122,379 | 120,064 | ||||||||||||||||
| Indonesia | '000 | 29,700 | 29,450 | 29,352 | 29,426 | 25,238 | ... | |||||||||||||||
| Mexico | '000 | 14,398 | 14,297 | 14,182 | 14,061 | 14,013 | ... | |||||||||||||||
| Nigeria | '000 | 25,443 | 25,591 | 24,544 | 27,889 | 28,078 | ... | ... | ||||||||||||||
| Pakistan | '000 | 19,847 | 21,551 | 21,686 | 22,931 | 23,588 | ... | ... | ||||||||||||||
| Philippines | '000 | ... | ... | ... | 14,453 | 14,294 | 14,040 | 13,419 | 13,195 | |||||||||||||
| Tanzania | '000 | 8,298 | 8,639 | 9,316 | 10,112 | 10,605 | ||||||||||||||||
| USA | '000 | 24,786 | 25,019 | 25,124 | 24,958 | 24,786 | ... | |||||||||||||||
| Vietnam | '000 | 7,544 | 7,790 | 7,802 | 8,042 | 8,507 |
Helgi Library 
