Out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, female in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea: Out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, female was 65.0% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, female in Papua New Guinea, 2000–2025
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2025, out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, female in Papua New Guinea stood at 65.0%. That is the highest value across all 26 years on record.
That represents a change of up 5.2% on the previous year and up 48.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, female in Papua New Guinea peaked at 65.0% in 2025 and was at its lowest, 24.9%, in 2004.
Papua New Guinea ranks 19th of 206 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
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, female in Papua New Guinea, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 29.0% | — |
| 2001 | 27.4% | -5.5% |
| 2002 | 26.1% | -4.7% |
| 2003 | 25.2% | -3.4% |
| 2004 | 24.9% | -1.2% |
| 2005 | 25.3% | +1.6% |
| 2006 | 26.3% | +4.0% |
| 2007 | 27.9% | +6.1% |
| 2008 | 30.4% | +9.0% |
| 2009 | 32.3% | +6.2% |
| 2010 | 34.0% | +5.3% |
| 2011 | 35.2% | +3.5% |
| 2012 | 37.0% | +5.1% |
| 2013 | 39.6% | +7.0% |
| 2014 | 42.1% | +6.3% |
| 2015 | 43.8% | +4.0% |
| 2016 | 54.5% | +24.4% |
| 2017 | 54.0% | -0.9% |
| 2018 | 53.1% | -1.7% |
| 2019 | 52.8% | -0.6% |
| 2020 | 53.4% | +1.1% |
| 2021 | 50.2% | -6.0% |
| 2022 | 54.1% | +7.8% |
| 2023 | 58.0% | +7.2% |
| 2024 | 61.8% | +6.6% |
| 2025 | 65.0% | +5.2% |
Papua New Guinea compared with similar countries
- Papua New Guinea's 65.0% is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 35.0%, 1.9× the median. (47 countries reporting)
- Papua New Guinea's 65.0% is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 16.1%, 4.0× the median. (32 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 27.5% | 24.9% | 32.3% | 10 |
| 2010s | 44.6% | 34.0% | 54.5% | 10 |
| 2020s | 57.1% | 50.2% | 65.0% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Papua New Guinea
- 16 Malawi 68.6% compare
- 17 Tokelau 68.2% compare
- 18 Burkina Faso 66.6% compare
- 20 Djibouti 64.9% compare
- 21 South Sudan 64.7% compare
- 22 Lao People's Democratic Republic 64.3% 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, female in Papua New Guinea?
- Out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, female in Papua New Guinea was 65.0% in 2025, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, female recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The highest recorded value was 65.0% in 2025.
- What is the lowest out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, female recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The lowest recorded value was 24.9% in 2004.
- How does Papua New Guinea rank for out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, female?
- Papua New Guinea ranks 19th out of 206 countries with data for 2025.
- Is out-of-school rate for youth of upper secondary school age, female rising or falling in Papua New Guinea?
- Over the last ten years it is up 48.4%. 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, female (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