Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age was 74.7% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Afghanistan, 2000–2025
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
Afghanistan recorded 74.7% for out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in 2025. That is the highest value across all 26 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 54.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Afghanistan peaked at 74.7% in 2022 and was at its lowest, 45.0%, in 2009.
That places Afghanistan 1st out of 206 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 26 years of available data.
Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Afghanistan, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 54.2% | — |
| 2001 | 53.4% | -1.5% |
| 2002 | 52.9% | -0.9% |
| 2003 | 52.7% | -0.4% |
| 2004 | 52.0% | -1.3% |
| 2005 | 50.6% | -2.7% |
| 2006 | 48.8% | -3.6% |
| 2007 | 46.7% | -4.3% |
| 2008 | 45.3% | -3.0% |
| 2009 | 45.0% | -0.7% |
| 2010 | 46.0% | +2.2% |
| 2011 | 47.2% | +2.6% |
| 2012 | 47.9% | +1.5% |
| 2013 | 48.0% | +0.2% |
| 2014 | 47.9% | -0.2% |
| 2015 | 48.5% | +1.3% |
| 2016 | 50.1% | +3.3% |
| 2017 | 51.9% | +3.6% |
| 2018 | 53.0% | +2.1% |
| 2019 | 53.8% | +1.5% |
| 2020 | 54.5% | +1.3% |
| 2021 | 56.1% | +2.9% |
| 2022 | 74.7% | +33.2% |
| 2023 | 74.7% | +0.0% |
| 2024 | 74.7% | +0.0% |
| 2025 | 74.7% | +0.0% |
Afghanistan compared with similar countries
- Afghanistan's 74.7% is above the median for low income countries, which is 45.1%, 1.7× the median. (24 countries reporting)
- Afghanistan's 74.7% is above the median for Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan, which is 7.3%, 10.2× the median. (22 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Afghanistan 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | +33.2% | 56.1% | 74.7% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 50.2% | 45.0% | 54.2% | 10 |
| 2010s | 49.4% | 46.0% | 53.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 68.2% | 54.5% | 74.7% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Afghanistan
More education data for Afghanistan
- Teachers in secondary education, both sexes (number), gaps filled 88,020 (2023)
- Repeaters in primary education, all grades, both sexes (number), gaps 343,942 (2023)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, male (number), gaps filled 13,837 (2003)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, female (number), gaps filled 10,383 (2003)
- Secondary education, pupils, gaps filled 3.43 million (2023)
- Primary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, gaps filled 7.51 million (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, annual growth rate 3.56 % change on previous year (2019)
- Primary education, pupils, per unit of GDP 0.0004 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, per capita 0.1811 units per person (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Afghanistan?
- Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Afghanistan was 74.7% in 2025, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age recorded in Afghanistan?
- The highest recorded value was 74.7% in 2022.
- What is the lowest out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age recorded in Afghanistan?
- The lowest recorded value was 45.0% in 2009.
- How does Afghanistan rank for out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age?
- Afghanistan ranks 1st out of 206 countries with data for 2025.
- Is out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age rising or falling in Afghanistan?
- Over the last ten years it is up 54.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Afghanistan data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age, both sexes (modelled data) (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 26 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release