Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary … upper female in Netherlands
Netherlands: Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary … upper female was 72.6% in 2023. ▲ Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in Netherlands, 1971–2023
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
Netherlands recorded 72.6% for educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in 2023. That is the highest value across all 29 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.5% on the previous year and up 11.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in Netherlands peaked at 72.6% in 2023 and was at its lowest, 13.5%, in 1971.
That places Netherlands 52nd out of 141 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 29 years of available data.
Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary … upper female in Netherlands, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 13.5% | — |
| 1996 | 51.3% | +280.1% |
| 1997 | 52.8% | +3.0% |
| 1998 | 52.5% | -0.7% |
| 1999 | 53.4% | +1.7% |
| 2000 | 54.5% | +2.1% |
| 2001 | 55.8% | +2.5% |
| 2002 | 56.6% | +1.5% |
| 2003 | 58.3% | +2.9% |
| 2004 | 59.1% | +1.3% |
| 2005 | 59.3% | +0.3% |
| 2006 | 59.3% | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 62.7% | +5.7% |
| 2008 | 61.6% | -1.6% |
| 2009 | 62.0% | +0.6% |
| 2010 | 62.3% | +0.4% |
| 2011 | 62.6% | +0.5% |
| 2012 | 63.2% | +1.0% |
| 2013 | 65.3% | +3.3% |
| 2014 | 65.3% | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 65.5% | +0.3% |
| 2016 | 66.2% | +1.1% |
| 2017 | 69.6% | +5.0% |
| 2018 | 67.6% | -2.8% |
| 2019 | 70.8% | +4.7% |
| 2020 | 69.8% | -1.4% |
| 2021 | 71.7% | +2.7% |
| 2022 | 72.3% | +0.9% |
| 2023 | 72.6% | +0.5% |
Netherlands compared with similar countries
- Netherlands's 72.6% is below the median for high income countries, which is 78.7%, 92% of the median. (58 countries reporting)
- Netherlands's 72.6% is below the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 79.0%, 92% of the median. (46 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary … upper female in Netherlands 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | +280.1% | 13.5% | 51.3% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 13.5% | 13.5% | 13.5% | 1 |
| 1990s | 52.5% | 51.3% | 53.4% | 4 |
| 2000s | 58.9% | 54.5% | 62.7% | 10 |
| 2010s | 65.8% | 62.3% | 70.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 71.6% | 69.8% | 72.6% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Netherlands
More education data for Netherlands
- Gender gap education levels, gaps filled 99.64 (2023)
- Primary enrollment selected countries, gaps filled 99.48 (2023)
- Teachers in secondary education, both sexes (number), gaps filled 118,472 (2024)
- Repeaters in primary education, all grades, both sexes (number), gaps 23,856 (1985)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, male (number), gaps filled 247,743 (2023)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, female (number), gaps filled 240,049 (2023)
- Secondary education, pupils, gaps filled 1.61 million (2023)
- Primary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, gaps filled 1.14 million (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, annual growth rate 0.0937 % change on previous year (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in Netherlands?
- Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in Netherlands was 72.6% in 2023, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or recorded in Netherlands?
- The highest recorded value was 72.6% in 2023.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or recorded in Netherlands?
- The lowest recorded value was 13.5% in 1971.
- How does Netherlands rank for educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or?
- Netherlands ranks 52nd out of 141 countries with data for 2023.
- Is educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or rising or falling in Netherlands?
- Over the last ten years it is up 11.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Netherlands 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, female (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 29 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release