Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or was 42.1% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in Costa Rica, 1973–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
Costa Rica recorded 42.1% for educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in 2024. That is the highest value across all 25 years on record.
The figure is up 2.0% on the previous year and up 5.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in Costa Rica peaked at 42.1% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 11.3%, in 1973.
That places Costa Rica 101st out of 140 countries with data for 2024, putting it 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 upper secondary education or in Costa Rica, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | 11.3% | — |
| 2001 | 28.6% | +152.3% |
| 2002 | 28.7% | +0.4% |
| 2003 | 29.7% | +3.5% |
| 2004 | 29.9% | +0.7% |
| 2005 | 30.5% | +2.0% |
| 2006 | 30.4% | -0.3% |
| 2007 | 33.1% | +8.8% |
| 2008 | 35.0% | +5.7% |
| 2009 | 36.1% | +3.2% |
| 2010 | 34.9% | -3.3% |
| 2011 | 36.0% | +3.1% |
| 2012 | 36.6% | +1.7% |
| 2013 | 36.0% | -1.7% |
| 2014 | 39.9% | +10.7% |
| 2015 | 37.0% | -7.2% |
| 2016 | 37.3% | +0.8% |
| 2017 | 35.6% | -4.5% |
| 2018 | 38.4% | +7.9% |
| 2019 | 37.5% | -2.4% |
| 2020 | 39.5% | +5.3% |
| 2021 | 38.4% | -2.7% |
| 2022 | 39.4% | +2.6% |
| 2023 | 41.3% | +4.8% |
| 2024 | 42.1% | +2.0% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 11.3% | 11.3% | 11.3% | 1 |
| 2000s | 31.3% | 28.6% | 36.1% | 9 |
| 2010s | 36.9% | 34.9% | 39.9% | 10 |
| 2020s | 40.1% | 38.4% | 42.1% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Costa Rica
More education data for Costa Rica
- 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)
- Lower secondary school starting age 12 years (2025)
- Primary school starting age 6 years (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in Costa Rica?
- Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in Costa Rica was 42.1% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or recorded in Costa Rica?
- The highest recorded value was 42.1% in 2024.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or recorded in Costa Rica?
- The lowest recorded value was 11.3% in 1973.
- How does Costa Rica rank for educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or?
- Costa Rica ranks 101st out of 140 countries with data for 2024.
- Is educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or rising or falling in Costa Rica?
- Over the last ten years it is up 5.7%. 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 upper secondary education or higher, population 25+ years, male (%). 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