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 7.3% in 2024. ▼ Falling
Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Colombia, 2000–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2024, out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Colombia stood at 7.3%.
That represents a change of up 82.2% on the previous year and up 61.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Colombia peaked at 7.8% in 2000 and was at its lowest, 3.1%, in 2015.
Colombia ranks 20th of 46 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 22 years of available data.
Out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age in Colombia, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 7.8% | — |
| 2002 | 7.6% | -2.1% |
| 2003 | 6.7% | -11.8% |
| 2004 | 6.3% | -6.0% |
| 2005 | 6.2% | -1.2% |
| 2008 | 5.2% | -16.4% |
| 2009 | 5.0% | -3.8% |
| 2010 | 3.2% | -35.5% |
| 2011 | 5.4% | +67.6% |
| 2012 | 5.0% | -7.4% |
| 2013 | 3.7% | -26.0% |
| 2014 | 4.5% | +21.6% |
| 2015 | 3.1% | -31.1% |
| 2016 | 4.4% | +41.9% |
| 2017 | 4.2% | -4.5% |
| 2018 | 4.6% | +9.5% |
| 2019 | 4.3% | -6.5% |
| 2020 | 4.8% | +11.6% |
| 2021 | 5.2% | +8.3% |
| 2022 | 5.1% | -1.9% |
| 2023 | 4.0% | -21.6% |
| 2024 | 7.3% | +82.2% |
Colombia compared with similar countries
- Colombia's 7.3% is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 3.4%, 2.2× the median. (14 countries reporting)
- Colombia's 7.3% is above the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 2.6%, 2.8× the median. (16 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 6.4% | 5.0% | 7.8% | 7 |
| 2010s | 4.2% | 3.1% | 5.4% | 10 |
| 2020s | 5.3% | 4.0% | 7.3% | 5 |
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 7.3% in 2024, 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 7.8% in 2000.
- What is the lowest out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age recorded in Colombia?
- The lowest recorded value was 3.1% in 2015.
- How does Colombia rank for out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age?
- Colombia ranks 20th out of 46 countries with data for 2024.
- Is out-of-school rate for adolescents of lower secondary school age rising or falling in Colombia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 61.9%. 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, urban, male (household survey data) (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 22 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release