Educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education was 11.1% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in Costa Rica, 1973–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
Costa Rica recorded 11.1% for educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in 2024.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 13.3% on the previous year and down 2.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in Costa Rica peaked at 11.4% in 2014 and was at its lowest, 1.8%, in 1973.
Costa Rica ranks 50th of 95 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 25 years of available data.
Educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in Costa Rica, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | 1.8% | — |
| 2001 | 5.5% | +208.6% |
| 2002 | 5.9% | +7.3% |
| 2003 | 6.5% | +10.9% |
| 2004 | 6.2% | -6.0% |
| 2005 | 6.8% | +11.1% |
| 2006 | 7.3% | +7.0% |
| 2007 | 7.7% | +4.8% |
| 2008 | 9.9% | +28.8% |
| 2009 | 10.7% | +7.8% |
| 2010 | 9.5% | -10.4% |
| 2011 | 9.8% | +2.7% |
| 2012 | 10.1% | +2.9% |
| 2013 | 7.4% | -26.5% |
| 2014 | 11.4% | +53.7% |
| 2015 | 10.8% | -5.5% |
| 2016 | 10.2% | -5.6% |
| 2017 | 7.7% | -24.1% |
| 2018 | 10.3% | +33.3% |
| 2019 | 8.5% | -17.7% |
| 2020 | 11.0% | +30.0% |
| 2021 | 9.2% | -16.7% |
| 2022 | 10.0% | +9.0% |
| 2023 | 9.8% | -1.8% |
| 2024 | 11.1% | +13.3% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 1.8% | 1.8% | 1.8% | 1 |
| 2000s | 7.4% | 5.5% | 10.7% | 9 |
| 2010s | 9.6% | 7.4% | 11.4% | 10 |
| 2020s | 10.2% | 9.2% | 11.1% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Costa Rica
More education data for Costa Rica
- Theoretical duration of upper secondary education (years), annual 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Theoretical duration of secondary education (years), annual growth 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Start of the academic school year (tertiary education), gaps filled 2,024 tertiary education (2024)
- Start of the academic school year (tertiary education), annual growth 0.0494 % change on previous year (2024)
- Primary education, teachers, gaps filled 43,058 (2024)
- Duration of pre primary education, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Duration of pre primary education 2 (2025)
- Official entrance age to pre primary education 4 (2025)
- Population ages 15-64 68.9% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 18.3% (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in Costa Rica?
- Educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education in Costa Rica was 11.1% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education recorded in Costa Rica?
- The highest recorded value was 11.4% in 2014.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education recorded in Costa Rica?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.8% in 1973.
- How does Costa Rica rank for educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education?
- Costa Rica ranks 50th out of 95 countries with data for 2024.
- Is educational attainment rate, completed short-cycle tertiary education rising or falling in Costa Rica?
- Over the last ten years it is down 2.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Costa Rica 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, rural, both sexes (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 25 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release