Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary … upper gender in South Korea
South Korea: Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary … upper gender was 0.875 GPIA in 2024. ▲ Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in South Korea, 1970–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in GPIA.
Analysis
In 2024, educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in South Korea stood at 0.875 GPIA. That is the highest value across all 30 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.4% on the previous year and up 5.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in South Korea peaked at 0.875 GPIA in 2024 and was at its lowest, 0.2983 GPIA, in 1970.
South Korea ranks 100th of 137 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 30 years of available data.
Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary … upper gender in South Korea, year by year
| Year | GPIA | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 0.2983 GPIA | — |
| 1980 | 0.4324 GPIA | +45.0% |
| 1985 | 0.6703 GPIA | +55.0% |
| 1990 | 0.6185 GPIA | -7.7% |
| 1995 | 0.6907 GPIA | +11.7% |
| 2000 | 0.762 GPIA | +10.3% |
| 2001 | 0.7398 GPIA | -2.9% |
| 2002 | 0.7493 GPIA | +1.3% |
| 2003 | 0.771 GPIA | +2.9% |
| 2004 | 0.7768 GPIA | +0.7% |
| 2005 | 0.8022 GPIA | +3.3% |
| 2006 | 0.794 GPIA | -1.0% |
| 2007 | 0.802 GPIA | +1.0% |
| 2008 | 0.8079 GPIA | +0.7% |
| 2009 | 0.7908 GPIA | -2.1% |
| 2010 | 0.8317 GPIA | +5.2% |
| 2011 | 0.816 GPIA | -1.9% |
| 2012 | 0.8169 GPIA | +0.1% |
| 2013 | 0.8236 GPIA | +0.8% |
| 2014 | 0.8307 GPIA | +0.9% |
| 2015 | 0.8506 GPIA | +2.4% |
| 2016 | 0.8456 GPIA | -0.6% |
| 2017 | 0.8476 GPIA | +0.2% |
| 2018 | 0.8494 GPIA | +0.2% |
| 2019 | 0.8547 GPIA | +0.6% |
| 2020 | 0.8583 GPIA | +0.4% |
| 2021 | 0.8615 GPIA | +0.4% |
| 2022 | 0.8642 GPIA | +0.3% |
| 2023 | 0.8711 GPIA | +0.8% |
| 2024 | 0.875 GPIA | +0.4% |
South Korea compared with similar countries
- South Korea's 0.875 GPIA is below the median for high income countries, which is 0.9872 GPIA, 89% of the median. (58 countries reporting)
- South Korea's 0.875 GPIA is below the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 0.9683 GPIA, 90% of the median. (20 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary … upper gender 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | +55.0% | 0.4324 GPIA | 0.6703 GPIA |
| 1980 | +45.0% | 0.2983 GPIA | 0.4324 GPIA |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 0.2983 GPIA | 0.2983 GPIA | 0.2983 GPIA | 1 |
| 1980s | 0.5513 GPIA | 0.4324 GPIA | 0.6703 GPIA | 2 |
| 1990s | 0.6546 GPIA | 0.6185 GPIA | 0.6907 GPIA | 2 |
| 2000s | 0.7796 GPIA | 0.7398 GPIA | 0.8079 GPIA | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.8367 GPIA | 0.816 GPIA | 0.8547 GPIA | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.866 GPIA | 0.8583 GPIA | 0.875 GPIA | 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 upper secondary education or in South Korea?
- Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in South Korea was 0.875 GPIA in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or recorded in South Korea?
- The highest recorded value was 0.875 GPIA in 2024.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or recorded in South Korea?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.2983 GPIA in 1970.
- How does South Korea rank for educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or?
- South Korea ranks 100th out of 137 countries with data for 2024.
- Is educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or rising or falling in South Korea?
- Over the last ten years it is up 5.3%. 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 upper secondary education or higher, population 25+ years, adjusted gender parity index (GPIA). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 30 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release