Educational attainment rate, completed lower … lower urban gender in South Korea
South Korea: Educational attainment rate, completed lower … lower urban gender was 0.9246 GPIA in 2024. ▲ Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in South Korea, 1970–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in GPIA.
Analysis
In 2024, educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in South Korea stood at 0.9246 GPIA. That is the highest value across all 17 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.3% on the previous year and up 3.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in South Korea peaked at 0.9246 GPIA in 2024 and was at its lowest, 0.4705 GPIA, in 1970.
That places South Korea 64th out of 97 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 17 years of available data.
Educational attainment rate, completed lower … lower urban gender in South Korea, year by year
| Year | GPIA | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 0.4705 GPIA | — |
| 2000 | 0.8548 GPIA | +81.7% |
| 2005 | 0.8779 GPIA | +2.7% |
| 2009 | 0.8709 GPIA | -0.8% |
| 2010 | 0.8917 GPIA | +2.4% |
| 2013 | 0.8937 GPIA | +0.2% |
| 2014 | 0.8973 GPIA | +0.4% |
| 2015 | 0.9036 GPIA | +0.7% |
| 2016 | 0.9058 GPIA | +0.2% |
| 2017 | 0.9091 GPIA | +0.4% |
| 2018 | 0.9097 GPIA | +0.1% |
| 2019 | 0.9108 GPIA | +0.1% |
| 2020 | 0.913 GPIA | +0.2% |
| 2021 | 0.9159 GPIA | +0.3% |
| 2022 | 0.9178 GPIA | +0.2% |
| 2023 | 0.9221 GPIA | +0.5% |
| 2024 | 0.9246 GPIA | +0.3% |
South Korea compared with similar countries
- South Korea's 0.9246 GPIA is below the median for high income countries, which is 0.9901 GPIA, 93% of the median. (39 countries reporting)
- South Korea's 0.9246 GPIA is below the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 0.9613 GPIA, 96% of the median. (11 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Educational attainment rate, completed lower … lower urban gender in South Korea changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | +81.7% | 0.4705 GPIA | 0.8548 GPIA |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 0.4705 GPIA | 0.4705 GPIA | 0.4705 GPIA | 1 |
| 2000s | 0.8679 GPIA | 0.8548 GPIA | 0.8779 GPIA | 3 |
| 2010s | 0.9027 GPIA | 0.8917 GPIA | 0.9108 GPIA | 8 |
| 2020s | 0.9187 GPIA | 0.913 GPIA | 0.9246 GPIA | 5 |
Countries ranked near South Korea
More education data for South Korea
- Gender gap education levels, gaps filled 98.79 (2022)
- Primary enrollment selected countries, gaps filled 99.94 (2024)
- Teachers in secondary education, both sexes (number), gaps filled 233,046 (2024)
- Repeaters in primary education, all grades, both sexes (number), gaps 76 (2024)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, male (number), gaps filled 434,627 (2024)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, female (number), gaps filled 412,067 (2024)
- Secondary education, pupils, gaps filled 2.66 million (2024)
- Primary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, gaps filled 2.51 million (2024)
- Primary education, pupils, annual growth rate -4.15 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in South Korea?
- Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in South Korea was 0.9246 GPIA in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or recorded in South Korea?
- The highest recorded value was 0.9246 GPIA in 2024.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or recorded in South Korea?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.4705 GPIA in 1970.
- How does South Korea rank for educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or?
- South Korea ranks 64th out of 97 countries with data for 2024.
- Is educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or rising or falling in South Korea?
- Over the last ten years it is up 3.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this South Korea data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or higher, population 25+ years, urban, adjusted gender parity index (GPIA). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 17 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release