Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary … upper both in Netherlands
Netherlands: Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary … upper both was 74.1% 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 74.1% for educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in 2023.
The figure is down 0.2% on the previous year and up 6.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in Netherlands peaked at 74.3% in 2022 and was at its lowest, 16.3%, in 1971.
That places Netherlands 50th out of 142 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 both in Netherlands, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 16.3% | — |
| 1996 | 58.3% | +257.6% |
| 1997 | 59.7% | +2.4% |
| 1998 | 59.6% | -0.1% |
| 1999 | 60.0% | +0.6% |
| 2000 | 60.6% | +1.0% |
| 2001 | 61.3% | +1.2% |
| 2002 | 62.2% | +1.3% |
| 2003 | 63.9% | +2.8% |
| 2004 | 64.7% | +1.3% |
| 2005 | 65.0% | +0.3% |
| 2006 | 64.7% | -0.4% |
| 2007 | 67.4% | +4.2% |
| 2008 | 66.2% | -1.8% |
| 2009 | 66.3% | +0.2% |
| 2010 | 66.8% | +0.6% |
| 2011 | 66.4% | -0.5% |
| 2012 | 67.1% | +1.0% |
| 2013 | 69.5% | +3.6% |
| 2014 | 69.4% | -0.2% |
| 2015 | 69.6% | +0.2% |
| 2016 | 70.0% | +0.6% |
| 2017 | 72.7% | +3.9% |
| 2018 | 71.1% | -2.2% |
| 2019 | 73.8% | +3.8% |
| 2020 | 73.0% | -1.1% |
| 2021 | 73.8% | +1.2% |
| 2022 | 74.3% | +0.6% |
| 2023 | 74.1% | -0.2% |
Netherlands compared with similar countries
- Netherlands's 74.1% is below the median for high income countries, which is 79.5%, 93% of the median. (58 countries reporting)
- Netherlands's 74.1% is below the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 81.4%, 91% of the median. (47 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary … upper both 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 | +257.6% | 16.3% | 58.3% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 16.3% | 16.3% | 16.3% | 1 |
| 1990s | 59.4% | 58.3% | 60.0% | 4 |
| 2000s | 64.2% | 60.6% | 67.4% | 10 |
| 2010s | 69.6% | 66.4% | 73.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 73.8% | 73.0% | 74.3% | 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 74.1% 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 74.3% in 2022.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or recorded in Netherlands?
- The lowest recorded value was 16.3% in 1971.
- How does Netherlands rank for educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or?
- Netherlands ranks 50th out of 142 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 6.6%. 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, both sexes (%). 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