Data for 1981

Lower Secondary Completion Rate, 1981

Name: Lower Secondary Completion Rate, 1981
Creator: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
License: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/terms-and-conditions

Figures for 1981, as UIS published them · stored as published, never rewritten

The lower secondary completion rate is the share of young people who have finished lower secondary school, measured a few years after the age they should have. It is the middle rung of the schooling ladder, between finishing primary and finishing upper secondary.

Lower Secondary Completion Rate, 1981 covers 164 countries on 3 measures. South Korea is highest, at 99.59; Burundi is lowest, at 1.28. The middle country reads 44.84.

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Lower Secondary Completion Rate · Data for 1981

HighestSouth Korea

99.59

LowestBurundi

1.28

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the better end.

164countries
3measures per country
1981the year it describes
162distinct values15 decimals, as published
Sep 29, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY-SA 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Lower Secondary Completion Rate, 1981, as published. UIS ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 164 countries · select a heading to sort

Lower Secondary Completion Rate, 1981: every country, as published by UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).
derived
1	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	99.59	99.538	99.638
2	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	99.54	99.586	99.496
3	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	99.41	99.416	99.406
=4	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	99.40	99.425	99.375
=4	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	99.40	99.359	99.439
6	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	99.32	99.280	99.360
7	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	99.23	99.251	99.211
8	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	99.09	99.182	99.002
9	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	98.98	99.104	98.864
10	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	98.82	99.059	98.579
11	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	98.72	98.663	98.773
12	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	98.70	98.471	98.931
13	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	98.55	98.406	98.686
14	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	97.91	98.928	96.948
15	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	97.69	97.507	97.867
16	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	97.44	97.363	97.523
17	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	97.36	98.063	96.653
18	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	97.12	96.434	97.814
19	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	96.74	96.328	97.168
20	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	96.58	97.569	95.639
21	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	96.38	96.290	96.470
22	Canada`CAN`Northern America	96.29	96.882	95.722
23	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	96.26	95.025	97.445
24	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	96.22	96.463	95.983
25	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	96.13	95.305	96.945
26	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	95.94	95.774	96.104
27	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	95.39	95.437	95.347
28	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	95.19	95.746	94.746
29	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	94.83	94.927	94.737
30	United States`USA`Northern America	94.65	94.752	94.552
31	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	94.40	93.238	95.498
32	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	94.25	92.236	96.226
33	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	93.87	93.682	94.052
34	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	93.70	90.859	96.529
35	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	93.08	93.796	92.396
36	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	92.97	93.681	92.281
37	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	92.50	90.882	94.012
38	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	92.39	90.840	93.890
39	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	92.29	91.716	92.836
40	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	91.76	91.010	92.440
41	France`FRA`Western Europe	91.67	90.563	92.743
42	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	91.58	92.899	90.309
43	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	91.39	94.835	88.235
44	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	90.58	91.501	89.621
45	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	90.44	88.578	92.198
46	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	90.24	92.344	88.254
47	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	90.08	90.986	89.206
48	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	88.03	82.423	93.513
49	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	86.86	83.641	90.091
50	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	86.26	85.386	87.096
51	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	82.25	75.693	88.423
52	Chile`CHL`South America	79.92	79.623	80.213
53	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	78.22	76.315	80.075
54	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	77.20	82.665	71.725
=55	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	77.04	78.773	75.243
=55	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	77.04	76.693	77.373
57	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	76.20	61.913	81.853
58	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	72.02	71.846	72.186
59	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	64.33	63.858	64.778
60	Tuvalu`TUV`Polynesia	64.29	66.985	61.595
61	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	63.85	64.548	63.138
62	Kiribati`KIR`Micronesia	62.29	60.388	64.168
63	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	61.19	59.823	62.483
64	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	60.45	49.981	71.321
65	Argentina`ARG`South America	58.92	60.668	57.208
66	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	58.86	61.947	55.787
67	Uruguay`URY`South America	58.68	61.317	56.087
68	Panama`PAN`Central America	57.24	60.134	54.414
69	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	55.81	56.613	55.033
70	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	55.42	51.825	58.965
71	Mexico`MEX`Central America	54.26	51.107	57.377
72	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	54.20	53.522	54.852
73	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	51.65	54.071	49.271
74	Peru`PER`South America	50.26	44.315	56.165
75	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	50.23	52.112	48.442
76	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	49.01	39.908	57.698
77	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	47.82	45.027	50.427
78	Guyana`GUY`South America	47.70	48.897	46.477
79	Venezuela`VEN`South America	47.64	49.435	45.885
80	Nauru`NRU`Micronesia	45.99	43.638	47.968
81	Ecuador`ECU`South America	45.91	45.044	46.764
82	Brazil`BRA`South America	45.27	47.716	42.846
83	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	44.41	41.372	47.432
84	Bolivia`BOL`South America	43.60	38.342	48.812
85	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	41.09	30.504	51.184
86	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	41.07	41.015	41.125
87	Paraguay`PRY`South America	37.84	36.434	39.234
88	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	37.68	26.254	48.164
89	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	37.63	42.863	32.473
90	Colombia`COL`South America	35.08	37.593	32.633
91	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	34.51	27.700	41.250
92	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	33.69	29.174	38.314
93	Suriname`SUR`South America	32.83	33.002	32.662
94	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	32.68	25.412	39.692
95	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	32.51	29.321	35.971
96	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	32.18	29.463	34.853
97	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	31.47	27.778	35.018
98	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	31.41	21.708	40.888
99	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	29.66	19.426	39.126
100	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	29.65	17.173	42.143
101	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	28.56	20.029	36.969
102	India`IND`Southern Asia	28.46	16.278	39.758
103	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	28.44	22.493	34.333
104	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	28.06	22.282	33.932
105	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	27.96	26.998	29.098
106	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	27.02	19.951	34.251
107	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	26.88	17.106	36.166
108	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	26.61	17.646	35.566
109	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	25.41	19.980	30.700
110	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	24.97	20.630	29.310
111	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	24.64	25.971	23.301
112	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	24.51	17.573	31.243
113	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	24.43	20.891	28.091
114	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	23.36	14.369	31.639
115	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	23.03	17.644	28.364
116	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	22.14	21.386	22.876
117	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	20.97	14.220	27.030
118	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	20.40	8.261	31.811
119	Honduras`HND`Central America	20.01	20.362	19.652
120	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	19.42	16.952	21.802
121	Belize`BLZ`Central America	18.52	17.102	19.922
122	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	18.05	8.681	27.691
123	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	16.72	11.246	22.256
124	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	16.59	8.957	24.007
125	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	16.55	13.813	19.253
126	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	16.46	13.533	19.433
127	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	16.33	10.167	22.507
128	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	15.59	11.522	18.872
129	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	15.53	7.520	23.420
130	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	15.41	5.525	26.095
131	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	15.23	14.646	15.796
132	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	15.21	3.991	26.501
133	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	15.03	0.000	30.795
134	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	14.82	5.734	23.894
135	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	14.07	7.702	20.052
136	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	13.22	7.828	18.688
137	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	12.85	15.130	10.460
138	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	11.87	3.396	21.116
139	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	9.77	1.683	17.403
140	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	9.26	5.834	12.754
141	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	8.63	3.775	13.535
142	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	8.02	3.367	12.937
143	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	7.65	4.121	11.241
144	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	7.60	3.801	11.971
145	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	7.42	3.702	11.312
146	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	7.40	2.120	13.030
147	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	6.98	2.258	11.748
148	Niger`NER`Western Africa	6.66	3.265	9.925
149	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	6.39	4.146	8.646
150	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	5.89	3.241	8.801
151	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	5.48	2.763	8.353
152	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	5.04	1.178	8.868
153	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	4.94	0.370	9.390
154	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	4.81	2.316	7.296
155	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	4.17	2.242	6.152
156	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	4.08	2.829	5.329
157	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	3.80	0.072	7.322
158	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	3.45	1.610	5.290
159	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	3.14	0.528	5.798
160	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	2.73	1.307	4.157
161	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	2.69	0.944	4.414
162	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	2.36	0.000	5.807
163	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	2.26	1.318	3.428
164	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	1.28	0.741	1.821

02In 1981

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.

Highest

1South Korea99.59
2United Kingdom99.54
3Finland99.41
4Austriashared99.40
4Denmarkshared99.40

Lowest

164Burundi1.28
163Mozambique2.26
162Maldives2.36
161South Sudan2.69
160Burkina Faso2.73

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 44.84. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

Female
HighestUnited Kingdom99.586
Lowest2 share it
Middle country: 42.118
Male
HighestSouth Korea99.638
LowestBurundi1.821
Middle country: 47.098

03Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

162 distinct values among 164
Values are stored exactly as published, to 15 decimals. 2 countries share 99.40. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 164 countries has every column.

04The files

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Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) (1981). Lower Secondary Completion Rate, 1981 [data set], describing 1981. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/lower-secondary-completion/1981

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