Education is not compulsory, and school enrolments and attendance are among the lowest in the Pacific. A 1999 estimate for the literacy rate of people aged 15-24 years was about 87% and a 2006 estimate for adult literacy was 78%, although the actual figures are likely to be much lower. The rate of primary school enrolment rose from 74.5% in 1989 to 78.2% in 1999 and then to 93.0% in 2004 but then fell to 85.4% in 2007. The proportion of pupils completing a primary education fell from 90% in 1991 to 72% in 2004 and up to 78% in 2012.
Port Vila and three other centres have campuses of the University of the South Pacific, an educational institution co-owned by twelve Pacific countries. The campus in Port Vila, known as the Emalus Campus, houses the University's law school.