Out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower in Malaysia
Malaysia: Out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower was 15.3% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Latest (2024)
15.3%
Change on year
up 13.9%
World rank
40th
of 169 countries
All-time high
16.3%
in 2020
All-time low
6.0%
in 1998
Years of data
30
1970–2024
Out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower in Malaysia, 1970–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
Malaysia recorded 15.3% for out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower in 2024.
That represents a change of up 13.9% on the previous year and up 37.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower in Malaysia peaked at 16.3% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 6.0%, in 1998.
Malaysia ranks 40th of 169 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 30 years of available data.
Out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower in Malaysia, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 13.2% | — |
| 1971 | 12.5% | -5.2% |
| 1972 | 10.2% | -18.6% |
| 1998 | 6.0% | -41.4% |
| 1999 | 6.1% | +1.3% |
| 2000 | 6.8% | +12.1% |
| 2001 | 8.2% | +21.0% |
| 2002 | 10.4% | +26.8% |
| 2003 | 8.8% | -15.9% |
| 2004 | 7.4% | -15.4% |
| 2005 | 7.8% | +4.9% |
| 2006 | 9.3% | +19.0% |
| 2007 | 9.1% | -1.9% |
| 2008 | 8.3% | -8.5% |
| 2009 | 8.5% | +2.7% |
| 2010 | 7.7% | -9.5% |
| 2011 | 8.5% | +9.6% |
| 2012 | 9.1% | +6.9% |
| 2013 | 9.5% | +4.9% |
| 2014 | 11.1% | +17.4% |
| 2015 | 13.2% | +18.5% |
| 2016 | 14.0% | +5.7% |
| 2017 | 14.4% | +3.3% |
| 2018 | 14.9% | +3.5% |
| 2019 | 16.2% | +8.4% |
| 2020 | 16.3% | +0.5% |
| 2021 | 15.7% | -3.2% |
| 2022 | 15.5% | -1.3% |
| 2023 | 13.4% | -13.7% |
| 2024 | 15.3% | +13.9% |
Malaysia compared with similar countries
- Malaysia's 15.3% is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 5.0%, 3.1× the median. (49 countries reporting)
- Malaysia's 15.3% is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 6.3%, 2.4× the median. (24 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 12.0% | 10.2% | 13.2% | 3 |
| 1990s | 6.0% | 6.0% | 6.1% | 2 |
| 2000s | 8.5% | 6.8% | 10.4% | 10 |
| 2010s | 11.9% | 7.7% | 16.2% | 10 |
| 2020s | 15.3% | 13.4% | 16.3% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Malaysia
More education data for Malaysia
- Teachers in secondary education, both sexes (number), gaps filled 217,105 (2024)
- Repeaters in primary education, all grades, both sexes (number), gaps 0 (2024)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, male (number), gaps filled 475,967 (2024)
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, female (number), gaps filled 460,041 (2024)
- Secondary education, pupils, gaps filled 2.64 million (2024)
- Primary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, gaps filled 3.06 million (2024)
- Primary education, pupils, annual growth rate -1.2 % change on previous year (2024)
- Primary education, pupils, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Primary education, pupils, per capita 0.0859 units per person (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower in Malaysia?
- Out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower in Malaysia was 15.3% in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower recorded in Malaysia?
- The highest recorded value was 16.3% in 2020.
- What is the lowest out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower recorded in Malaysia?
- The lowest recorded value was 6.0% in 1998.
- How does Malaysia rank for out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower?
- Malaysia ranks 40th out of 169 countries with data for 2024.
- Is out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower rising or falling in Malaysia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 37.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Malaysia data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of Out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower secondary school age, male (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 30 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release