Out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, both in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea: Out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, both was 61.9% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, both in Papua New Guinea, 2000–2025
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
Papua New Guinea recorded 61.9% for out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, both in 2025. That is the highest value across all 26 years on record.
That represents a change of up 4.7% on the previous year and up 64.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, both in Papua New Guinea peaked at 61.9% in 2025 and was at its lowest, 25.8%, in 2003.
Papua New Guinea ranks 23rd 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 youth of upper secondary school age, both in Papua New Guinea, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 27.7% | — |
| 2001 | 26.6% | -4.0% |
| 2002 | 26.1% | -1.9% |
| 2003 | 25.8% | -1.1% |
| 2004 | 25.8% | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 26.7% | +3.5% |
| 2006 | 28.2% | +5.6% |
| 2007 | 30.0% | +6.4% |
| 2008 | 32.4% | +8.0% |
| 2009 | 33.7% | +4.0% |
| 2010 | 34.5% | +2.4% |
| 2011 | 34.6% | +0.3% |
| 2012 | 34.8% | +0.6% |
| 2013 | 35.7% | +2.6% |
| 2014 | 36.7% | +2.8% |
| 2015 | 37.6% | +2.5% |
| 2016 | 46.5% | +23.7% |
| 2017 | 46.5% | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 46.5% | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 46.8% | +0.6% |
| 2020 | 48.4% | +3.4% |
| 2021 | 47.4% | -2.1% |
| 2022 | 51.5% | +8.6% |
| 2023 | 55.5% | +7.8% |
| 2024 | 59.1% | +6.5% |
| 2025 | 61.9% | +4.7% |
Papua New Guinea compared with similar countries
- Papua New Guinea's 61.9% is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 35.0%, 1.8× the median. (47 countries reporting)
- Papua New Guinea's 61.9% is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 21.0%, 2.9× the median. (32 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 28.3% | 25.8% | 33.7% | 10 |
| 2010s | 40.0% | 34.5% | 46.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 54.0% | 47.4% | 61.9% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Papua New Guinea
- 20 Lao People's Democratic Republic 63.3% compare
- 21 Djibouti 62.6% compare
- 21 Guatemala 62.6% compare
- 24 Honduras 58.9% compare
- 25 San Marino 58.5% compare
- 26 South Sudan 57.8% compare
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 youth of upper secondary school age, both in Papua New Guinea?
- Out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, both in Papua New Guinea was 61.9% in 2025, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, both recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The highest recorded value was 61.9% in 2025.
- What is the lowest out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, both recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The lowest recorded value was 25.8% in 2003.
- How does Papua New Guinea rank for out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, both?
- Papua New Guinea ranks 23rd out of 206 countries with data for 2025.
- Is out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, both rising or falling in Papua New Guinea?
- Over the last ten years it is up 64.6%. 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 youth of upper secondary 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