Data for 2020

Lower Secondary Completion Rate, 2020

Name: Lower Secondary Completion Rate, 2020
Creator: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
License: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/terms-and-conditions

Figures for 2020, 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, 2020 covers 160 countries on 3 measures. South Korea is highest, at 100.00; South Sudan is lowest, at 12.10. The middle country reads 86.78. Against 2019, 157 values changed (157 up, 0 down), the same countries are covered.

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Lower Secondary Completion Rate · Data for 2020

HighestSouth Korea

100.00

LowestSouth Sudan

12.10

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

160countries
3measures per country
2020the year it describes
156distinct values14 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, 2020, 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 160 countries · select a heading to sort

Lower Secondary Completion Rate, 2020: every country, as published by UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).
derived
1	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	100.00	100.000	100.000
2	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	99.82	99.877	99.767
3	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	99.71	99.710	99.710
4	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	99.67	99.686	99.656
5	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	99.63	99.640	99.620
6	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	99.61	99.629	99.589
7	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	99.53	99.591	99.471
8	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	99.48	99.424	99.534
9	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	99.38	99.273	99.483
10	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	99.21	99.284	99.144
11	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	99.15	99.298	99.018
12	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	99.08	99.297	98.877
13	Canada`CAN`Northern America	99.05	99.373	98.743
14	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	98.99	98.964	99.014
15	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	98.97	99.223	98.733
16	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	98.94	98.816	99.046
=17	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	98.89	99.340	98.460
=17	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	98.89	98.937	98.847
19	United States`USA`Northern America	98.86	99.020	98.710
20	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	98.77	98.960	98.590
21	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	98.71	99.041	98.401
22	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	98.68	98.640	98.720
23	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	98.57	98.688	98.458
24	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	98.53	98.902	98.182
=25	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	98.51	98.752	98.282
=25	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	98.51	98.698	98.328
27	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	98.46	98.780	98.140
28	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	98.44	98.788	98.108
29	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	98.43	99.135	97.755
=30	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	98.36	99.147	97.607
=30	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	98.36	99.246	97.516
32	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	98.35	98.755	97.975
=33	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	98.34	98.530	98.160
=33	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	98.34	97.774	98.794
35	France`FRA`Western Europe	98.17	98.823	97.553
36	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	97.86	97.829	97.889
37	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	97.69	98.293	97.103
38	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	97.55	98.524	96.684
39	Chile`CHL`South America	97.36	98.332	96.422
40	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	97.08	97.540	96.630
41	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	96.91	98.893	95.043
42	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	96.81	98.236	95.466
43	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	96.66	99.164	94.264
44	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	96.58	97.222	95.982
45	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	96.50	97.487	95.547
46	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	96.27	96.793	95.743
47	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	96.03	97.408	94.738
48	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	95.91	94.763	97.113
49	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	95.73	95.816	95.646
50	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	95.54	96.317	94.807
51	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	95.45	96.031	94.921
52	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	95.34	96.468	94.258
53	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	95.11	94.212	95.932
54	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	94.98	95.251	94.721
55	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	94.44	96.000	92.980
56	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	94.23	98.699	91.309
57	Guyana`GUY`South America	94.22	96.287	92.217
58	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	94.16	95.601	92.791
59	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	94.10	95.665	92.515
60	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	93.90	93.457	94.317
61	Bolivia`BOL`South America	93.48	94.286	92.696
62	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	93.35	96.510	90.310
63	Ecuador`ECU`South America	93.30	93.264	93.334
64	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	92.82	92.886	92.756
65	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	92.34	96.388	88.878
66	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	92.17	92.431	91.931
67	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	91.71	93.489	90.019
68	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	91.65	97.372	85.782
69	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	91.20	91.362	91.042
70	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	91.06	94.629	87.579
71	Peru`PER`South America	90.65	91.053	90.253
72	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	90.31	91.312	89.362
73	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	89.67	92.027	87.337
74	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	89.23	90.948	87.598
75	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	89.02	89.461	88.601
76	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	88.48	90.464	86.584
77	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	88.06	92.499	83.859
78	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	88.05	90.923	85.243
79	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	87.40	88.509	86.359
80	Mexico`MEX`Central America	87.09	88.158	86.048
81	India`IND`Southern Asia	86.47	86.496	86.446
82	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	86.36	91.746	81.176
83	Brazil`BRA`South America	86.14	89.779	82.619
84	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	85.63	90.643	80.373
85	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	85.35	87.650	83.150
86	Tuvalu`TUV`Polynesia	82.91	93.495	72.325
87	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	81.48	84.533	78.463
88	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	81.35	82.752	79.902
89	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	80.62	84.603	77.013
90	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	79.85	86.728	73.058
91	Kiribati`KIR`Micronesia	79.33	89.749	69.119
92	Paraguay`PRY`South America	78.26	82.992	73.712
93	Argentina`ARG`South America	77.90	82.961	73.071
94	Colombia`COL`South America	77.60	80.532	74.762
95	Panama`PAN`Central America	76.77	80.614	73.084
96	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	74.57	78.706	70.326
97	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	73.62	76.267	71.107
98	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	72.74	73.092	72.392
99	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	71.23	75.427	67.217
100	Uruguay`URY`South America	69.45	73.841	65.251
101	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	68.36	78.708	58.418
102	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	68.34	74.445	61.865
103	Nauru`NRU`Micronesia	67.98	73.010	62.640
104	Venezuela`VEN`South America	67.62	77.760	58.210
105	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	63.82	60.652	66.872
106	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	62.16	57.253	67.003
107	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	61.70	68.339	55.229
108	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	60.80	63.233	58.413
109	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	60.42	65.427	55.347
110	Suriname`SUR`South America	58.24	66.761	49.931
111	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	57.30	64.695	50.175
112	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	56.54	46.562	66.432
113	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	53.31	52.314	54.284
114	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	52.89	46.219	59.279
115	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	52.53	60.548	44.548
116	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	52.38	54.556	50.236
117	Honduras`HND`Central America	51.96	57.573	46.593
118	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	51.30	49.794	52.714
119	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	51.27	50.117	52.397
120	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	50.64	51.439	49.839
121	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	50.27	52.271	48.301
122	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	49.75	54.493	45.183
123	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	49.22	51.121	47.401
124	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	49.17	52.103	46.363
125	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	48.16	55.387	41.117
126	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	46.27	47.695	44.825
127	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	45.58	45.605	45.555
128	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	44.86	43.138	46.488
129	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	43.89	47.911	39.891
130	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	42.67	42.079	43.249
131	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	42.58	37.584	47.464
132	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	42.54	44.092	40.962
133	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	39.37	36.644	42.104
134	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	39.15	40.103	38.213
135	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	38.72	49.182	28.192
136	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	38.36	36.218	40.608
137	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	35.72	29.528	41.318
138	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	35.51	30.085	40.805
139	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	35.34	40.342	30.372
140	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	34.44	31.723	37.093
141	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	34.08	37.873	30.663
142	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	31.51	24.700	38.100
143	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	30.54	23.246	37.146
144	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	29.98	31.856	28.136
145	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	28.87	30.723	26.943
146	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	28.34	29.721	26.971
147	Niger`NER`Western Africa	27.89	15.600	39.720
148	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	27.51	27.853	27.173
149	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	26.81	22.113	31.503
150	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	26.21	25.592	26.832
151	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	26.09	27.309	24.849
152	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	25.30	29.046	21.626
153	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	22.30	18.998	25.508
154	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	21.54	12.634	30.234
155	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	21.18	22.087	20.287
156	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	17.10	11.468	22.598
157	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	14.85	11.296	18.446
158	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	14.83	14.629	15.029
159	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	12.85	9.967	15.757
160	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	12.10	7.845	16.275

02In 2020

At either end

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

Highest

1South Korea100.00
2United Kingdom99.82
3Norway99.71
4Denmark99.67
5Turkmenistan99.63

Lowest

160South Sudan12.10
159Central African Republic12.85
158Guinea-Bissau14.83
157Mozambique14.85
156Chad17.10

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 86.78. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

Female
HighestSouth Korea100.000
LowestSouth Sudan7.845
Middle country: 90.121
Male
HighestSouth Korea100.000
LowestGuinea-Bissau15.029
Middle country: 84.551

032019 → 2020

Since 2019

+0 / −0countries joined / left
157values changed, of 160 in both
157 · 0rose · fell
3unchanged

Rose most

Cambodia47.06 → 50.27+3.21
Niger25.36 → 27.89+2.53
Nepal70.21 → 72.74+2.53
São Tomé and Príncipe78.85 → 81.35+2.50
Burkina Faso31.99 → 34.44+2.45

Fell most

None.

Changes in value, not in places: a country’s place also moves when others do.

04Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

156 distinct values among 160
Values are stored exactly as published, to 14 decimals. 2 countries share 98.89. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 160 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

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UIS’s own file, on its own site.
indicators

What this site changed: Reshaped to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full

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

Cite this edition

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) (2020). Lower Secondary Completion Rate, 2020 [data set], describing 2020. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/lower-secondary-completion/2020

0645 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Lower Secondary Completion Rate, 2019
160 countries
The year after ›
Lower Secondary Completion Rate, 2021
160 countries
All of them
Lower Secondary Completion Rate: every year
45 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
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