Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in Korea
Korea: Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or was 88.5% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in Korea, 1970–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
The most recent figure for educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in Korea is 88.5%, measured in 2024. That is the highest value across all 17 years on record.
That represents a change of up 0.4% on the previous year and up 4.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or in Korea peaked at 88.5% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 31.1%, in 1970.
That places Korea 38th 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 secondary education or in Korea, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 31.1% | — |
| 2000 | 76.8% | +147.1% |
| 2005 | 80.3% | +4.6% |
| 2009 | 78.5% | -2.2% |
| 2010 | 82.1% | +4.6% |
| 2013 | 83.7% | +2.0% |
| 2014 | 84.4% | +0.8% |
| 2015 | 84.4% | -0.0% |
| 2016 | 85.6% | +1.4% |
| 2017 | 86.0% | +0.4% |
| 2018 | 86.2% | +0.2% |
| 2019 | 86.4% | +0.3% |
| 2020 | 86.7% | +0.3% |
| 2021 | 87.1% | +0.5% |
| 2022 | 87.4% | +0.3% |
| 2023 | 88.1% | +0.9% |
| 2024 | 88.5% | +0.4% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 31.1% | 31.1% | 31.1% | 1 |
| 2000s | 78.6% | 76.8% | 80.3% | 3 |
| 2010s | 84.9% | 82.1% | 86.4% | 8 |
| 2020s | 87.6% | 86.7% | 88.5% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Korea
- 35 South Africa 90.0% compare
- 36 Netherlands 89.7% compare
- 37 Luxembourg 89.6% compare
- 39 Chile 88.3% compare
- 40 Brunei Darussalam 88.2% compare
- 41 Israel 87.8% compare
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 88.5% 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 88.5% in 2024.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or recorded in Korea?
- The lowest recorded value was 31.1% in 1970.
- How does Korea rank for educational attainment rate, completed lower secondary education or?
- Korea ranks 38th out of 97 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 4.8%. 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, urban, female (%). 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