Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Colombia
Colombia: Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age was 0.9% in 2023. ▼ Falling
Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Colombia, 2002–2023
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
Colombia recorded 0.9% for out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in 2023. That is the lowest value across all 20 years on record.
The figure is down 55.0% on the previous year and down 73.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Colombia peaked at 3.9% in 2012 and was at its lowest, 0.9%, in 2023.
That places Colombia 28th out of 37 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 20 years of available data.
Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Colombia, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 3.3% | — |
| 2003 | 1.8% | -45.5% |
| 2004 | 2.1% | +16.7% |
| 2005 | 1.9% | -7.9% |
| 2008 | 2.4% | +24.1% |
| 2009 | 3.7% | +54.2% |
| 2010 | 1.0% | -73.3% |
| 2011 | 3.4% | +244.0% |
| 2012 | 3.9% | +14.7% |
| 2013 | 3.4% | -12.8% |
| 2014 | 2.9% | -14.7% |
| 2015 | 1.3% | -53.9% |
| 2016 | 2.3% | +72.2% |
| 2017 | 2.2% | -4.3% |
| 2018 | 2.7% | +22.7% |
| 2019 | 1.9% | -29.6% |
| 2020 | 1.6% | -15.8% |
| 2021 | 3.1% | +93.8% |
| 2022 | 2.0% | -35.5% |
| 2023 | 0.9% | -55.0% |
Colombia compared with similar countries
- Colombia's 0.9% is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 0.9%, 1.0× the median. (10 countries reporting)
- Colombia's 0.9% is below the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 1.0%, 88% of the median. (16 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 2.5% | 1.8% | 3.7% | 6 |
| 2010s | 2.5% | 1.0% | 3.9% | 10 |
| 2020s | 1.9% | 0.9% | 3.1% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Colombia
More education data for Colombia
- Teachers in secondary education, both sexes (number), gaps filled 190,940 (2022)
- Repeaters in primary education, all grades, both sexes (number), gaps 234,939 (2022)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, male (number), gaps filled 963,182 (2022)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, female (number), gaps filled 937,684 (2022)
- Secondary education, pupils, gaps filled 4.85 million (2022)
- Primary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, gaps filled 4.14 million (2022)
- Primary education, pupils, annual growth rate -1.2 % change on previous year (2022)
- Primary education, pupils, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2022)
- Primary education, pupils, per capita 0.08 units per person (2022)
Frequently asked questions
- What is out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Colombia?
- Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Colombia was 0.9% in 2023, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age recorded in Colombia?
- The highest recorded value was 3.9% in 2012.
- What is the lowest out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age recorded in Colombia?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.9% in 2023.
- How does Colombia rank for out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age?
- Colombia ranks 28th out of 37 countries with data for 2023.
- Is out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age rising or falling in Colombia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 73.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Colombia 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, richest quintile, both sexes (household survey data) (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 20 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release