Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea: Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age was 39.5% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Papua New Guinea, 2000–2025
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
The most recent figure for out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Papua New Guinea is 39.5%, measured in 2025.
The figure is down 2.9% on the previous year and up 92.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Papua New Guinea peaked at 40.7% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 13.1%, in 2000.
Papua New Guinea ranks 25th of 206 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
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 Papua New Guinea, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 13.1% | — |
| 2001 | 13.1% | +0.0% |
| 2002 | 13.2% | +0.8% |
| 2003 | 13.5% | +2.3% |
| 2004 | 14.4% | +6.7% |
| 2005 | 15.9% | +10.4% |
| 2006 | 17.8% | +11.9% |
| 2007 | 18.3% | +2.8% |
| 2008 | 18.0% | -1.6% |
| 2009 | 18.8% | +4.4% |
| 2010 | 20.5% | +9.0% |
| 2011 | 23.0% | +12.2% |
| 2012 | 23.8% | +3.5% |
| 2013 | 22.9% | -3.8% |
| 2014 | 21.6% | -5.7% |
| 2015 | 20.5% | -5.1% |
| 2016 | 27.3% | +33.2% |
| 2017 | 27.7% | +1.5% |
| 2018 | 29.2% | +5.4% |
| 2019 | 31.9% | +9.2% |
| 2020 | 35.6% | +11.6% |
| 2021 | 34.3% | -3.7% |
| 2022 | 37.4% | +9.0% |
| 2023 | 40.2% | +7.5% |
| 2024 | 40.7% | +1.2% |
| 2025 | 39.5% | -2.9% |
Papua New Guinea compared with similar countries
- Papua New Guinea's 39.5% is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 13.2%, 3.0× the median. (47 countries reporting)
- Papua New Guinea's 39.5% is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 5.0%, 7.9× the median. (32 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 15.6% | 13.1% | 18.8% | 10 |
| 2010s | 24.8% | 20.5% | 31.9% | 10 |
| 2020s | 37.9% | 34.3% | 40.7% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Papua New Guinea
More education data for Papua New Guinea
- Teachers in secondary education, both sexes (number), gaps filled 14,791 (2016)
- Repeaters in primary education, all grades, both sexes (number), gaps 80,915 (2023)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, male (number), gaps filled 226,545 (2023)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, female (number), gaps filled 208,353 (2023)
- Secondary education, pupils, gaps filled 655,030 (2023)
- Primary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, gaps filled 1.65 million (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, annual growth rate 10.31 % change on previous year (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, per unit of GDP 0.0001 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, per capita 0.1593 units per person (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Papua New Guinea?
- Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Papua New Guinea was 39.5% 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 Papua New Guinea?
- The highest recorded value was 40.7% in 2024.
- What is the lowest out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The lowest recorded value was 13.1% in 2000.
- How does Papua New Guinea rank for out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age?
- Papua New Guinea ranks 25th out of 206 countries with data for 2025.
- Is out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age rising or falling in Papua New Guinea?
- Over the last ten years it is up 92.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Papua New Guinea 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, female (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