Educational attainment rate … short-cycle tertiary location in South Korea
South Korea: Educational attainment rate … short-cycle tertiary location was 0.6393 LPIA in 2024. ▲ Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in South Korea, 1970–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in LPIA.
Analysis
South Korea recorded 0.6393 LPIA for educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in 2024. That is the highest value across all 18 years on record.
That represents a change of up 0.1% on the previous year and up 8.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in South Korea peaked at 0.6393 LPIA in 2024 and was at its lowest, 0.1622 LPIA, in 1970.
South Korea ranks 26th of 93 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 18 years of available data.
Educational attainment rate … short-cycle tertiary location in South Korea, year by year
| Year | LPIA | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 0.1622 LPIA | — |
| 2000 | 0.4213 LPIA | +159.8% |
| 2002 | 0.3799 LPIA | -9.8% |
| 2005 | 0.4523 LPIA | +19.1% |
| 2009 | 0.4315 LPIA | -4.6% |
| 2010 | 0.538 LPIA | +24.7% |
| 2013 | 0.5886 LPIA | +9.4% |
| 2014 | 0.5896 LPIA | +0.2% |
| 2015 | 0.5964 LPIA | +1.2% |
| 2016 | 0.5827 LPIA | -2.3% |
| 2017 | 0.5837 LPIA | +0.2% |
| 2018 | 0.5933 LPIA | +1.6% |
| 2019 | 0.6054 LPIA | +2.0% |
| 2020 | 0.606 LPIA | +0.1% |
| 2021 | 0.6191 LPIA | +2.2% |
| 2022 | 0.6322 LPIA | +2.1% |
| 2023 | 0.6387 LPIA | +1.0% |
| 2024 | 0.6393 LPIA | +0.1% |
South Korea compared with similar countries
- South Korea's 0.6393 LPIA is above the median for high income countries, which is 0.6393 LPIA, 1.0× the median. (41 countries reporting)
- South Korea's 0.6393 LPIA is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 0.4737 LPIA, 1.3× the median. (11 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Educational attainment rate … short-cycle tertiary location 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 | +159.8% | 0.1622 LPIA | 0.4213 LPIA |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 0.1622 LPIA | 0.1622 LPIA | 0.1622 LPIA | 1 |
| 2000s | 0.4213 LPIA | 0.3799 LPIA | 0.4523 LPIA | 4 |
| 2010s | 0.5847 LPIA | 0.538 LPIA | 0.6054 LPIA | 8 |
| 2020s | 0.6271 LPIA | 0.606 LPIA | 0.6393 LPIA | 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 short-cycle tertiary education in South Korea?
- Educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in South Korea was 0.6393 LPIA in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education recorded in South Korea?
- The highest recorded value was 0.6393 LPIA in 2024.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education recorded in South Korea?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.1622 LPIA in 1970.
- How does South Korea rank for educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education?
- South Korea ranks 26th out of 93 countries with data for 2024.
- Is educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education rising or falling in South Korea?
- Over the last ten years it is up 8.4%. 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 short-cycle tertiary education or higher, population 25+ years, adjusted location parity index (LPIA). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 18 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release