Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in Korea
Korea: Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or was 85.6% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in Korea, 1970–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
Korea recorded 85.6% for educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in 2024. That is the highest value across all 28 years on record.
That represents a change of up 0.6% on the previous year and up 6.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in Korea peaked at 85.6% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 15.9%, in 1970.
Korea ranks 52nd of 131 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 28 years of available data.
Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in Korea, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 15.9% | — |
| 1975 | 23.4% | +47.3% |
| 1980 | 33.6% | +43.7% |
| 1990 | 57.5% | +71.0% |
| 1995 | 63.0% | +9.5% |
| 2000 | 69.6% | +10.5% |
| 2003 | 72.2% | +3.8% |
| 2004 | 73.0% | +1.1% |
| 2005 | 74.1% | +1.5% |
| 2006 | 74.9% | +1.1% |
| 2007 | 75.8% | +1.2% |
| 2008 | 76.4% | +0.9% |
| 2009 | 71.0% | -7.1% |
| 2010 | 77.1% | +8.5% |
| 2011 | 77.8% | +1.0% |
| 2012 | 78.6% | +1.0% |
| 2013 | 79.4% | +1.0% |
| 2014 | 80.3% | +1.2% |
| 2015 | 80.3% | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 81.8% | +1.8% |
| 2017 | 82.2% | +0.5% |
| 2018 | 82.4% | +0.3% |
| 2019 | 82.8% | +0.4% |
| 2020 | 83.1% | +0.4% |
| 2021 | 83.7% | +0.7% |
| 2022 | 84.1% | +0.4% |
| 2023 | 85.0% | +1.2% |
| 2024 | 85.6% | +0.6% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 19.6% | 15.9% | 23.4% | 2 |
| 1980s | 33.6% | 33.6% | 33.6% | 1 |
| 1990s | 60.2% | 57.5% | 63.0% | 2 |
| 2000s | 73.4% | 69.6% | 76.4% | 8 |
| 2010s | 80.3% | 77.1% | 82.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 84.3% | 83.1% | 85.6% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Korea
More education data for Korea
- Primary education, teachers, gaps filled 173,133 (2024)
- Duration of pre primary education, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Duration of pre primary education 3 (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre primary education 3 (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 69.5% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 10.2% (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
- Primary secondary enrollment completion rates, gaps filled 100.87 (2024)
- School enrollment, primary 100.9% (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in Korea?
- Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in Korea was 85.6% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or recorded in Korea?
- The highest recorded value was 85.6% in 2024.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or recorded in Korea?
- The lowest recorded value was 15.9% in 1970.
- How does Korea rank for educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or?
- Korea ranks 52nd out of 131 countries with data for 2024.
- Is educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or rising or falling in Korea?
- Over the last ten years it is up 6.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this 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, female (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 28 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release