Out-of-school rate for children of primary school age, both sexes in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea: Out-of-school rate for children of primary school age, both sexes was 15.2% in 2025. ▼ Falling
Out-of-school rate for children of primary school age, both sexes in Papua New Guinea, 2000–2025
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
Papua New Guinea recorded 15.2% for out-of-school rate for children of primary school age, both sexes in 2025. That is the lowest value across all 26 years on record.
The figure is down 10.1% on the previous year and down 20.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, out-of-school rate for children of primary school age, both sexes in Papua New Guinea peaked at 24.5% in 2019 and was at its lowest, 15.2%, in 2025.
Papua New Guinea ranks 50th of 206 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 26 years of available data.
Out-of-school rate for children of primary school age, both sexes in Papua New Guinea, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 23.5% | — |
| 2001 | 23.5% | +0.0% |
| 2002 | 23.2% | -1.3% |
| 2003 | 22.8% | -1.7% |
| 2004 | 22.2% | -2.6% |
| 2005 | 21.5% | -3.2% |
| 2006 | 20.3% | -5.6% |
| 2007 | 19.3% | -4.9% |
| 2008 | 18.3% | -5.2% |
| 2009 | 17.2% | -6.0% |
| 2010 | 16.4% | -4.7% |
| 2011 | 15.8% | -3.7% |
| 2012 | 15.9% | +0.6% |
| 2013 | 16.6% | +4.4% |
| 2014 | 17.5% | +5.4% |
| 2015 | 19.0% | +8.6% |
| 2016 | 20.8% | +9.5% |
| 2017 | 22.3% | +7.2% |
| 2018 | 23.4% | +4.9% |
| 2019 | 24.5% | +4.7% |
| 2020 | 24.2% | -1.2% |
| 2021 | 22.6% | -6.6% |
| 2022 | 20.7% | -8.4% |
| 2023 | 18.7% | -9.7% |
| 2024 | 16.9% | -9.6% |
| 2025 | 15.2% | -10.1% |
Papua New Guinea compared with similar countries
- Papua New Guinea's 15.2% is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 9.6%, 1.6× the median. (47 countries reporting)
- Papua New Guinea's 15.2% is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 3.5%, 4.3× the median. (32 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 21.2% | 17.2% | 23.5% | 10 |
| 2010s | 19.2% | 15.8% | 24.5% | 10 |
| 2020s | 19.7% | 15.2% | 24.2% | 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 children of primary school age, both sexes in Papua New Guinea?
- Out-of-school rate for children of primary school age, both sexes in Papua New Guinea was 15.2% in 2025, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest out-of-school rate for children of primary school age, both sexes recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The highest recorded value was 24.5% in 2019.
- What is the lowest out-of-school rate for children of primary school age, both sexes recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The lowest recorded value was 15.2% in 2025.
- How does Papua New Guinea rank for out-of-school rate for children of primary school age, both sexes?
- Papua New Guinea ranks 50th out of 206 countries with data for 2025.
- Is out-of-school rate for children of primary school age, both sexes rising or falling in Papua New Guinea?
- Over the last ten years it is down 20.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- 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 children of primary 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