Data / Tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64 / South Korea

Tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64 in South Korea

Tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64 in South Korea was 58.2% in 2025, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. That is up 2 pts from 2024. That is the 3rd highest of 36 countries in 2025.

202558.2%
Change on 2024+2 pts
Rank3rd of 36Countries ranked
Series high58.22025
Series low18.11995
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Tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64 in South Korea, 1995 to 2025

10203040506019952001200620112016202120251995: 18.1 %1997: 19.8 %1998: 22.5 %1999: 23.1 %2000: 23.8 %2001: 24.8 %2002: 25.9 %2003: 29.4 %2004: 30.4 %2005: 31.6 %2006: 33.1 %2007: 34.8 %2008: 36.7 %2009: 38.5 %2010: 39 %2011: 40.4 %2012: 41.7 %2013: 43.1 %2014: 44.5 %2015: 45.4 %2016: 46.6 %2017: 47.7 %2018: 49 %2019: 50 %2020: 50.7 %2021: 51.7 %2022: 52.8 %2023: 54.5 %2024: 56.2 %2025: 58.2 %
%. Source: OECD, OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA). Retrieved 2026-10-12, published 2026-10-12.
All 30 values
Period%
202558.2
202456.2
202354.5
202252.8
202151.7
202050.7
201950
201849
201747.7
201646.6
201545.4
201444.5
201343.1
201241.7
201140.4 Series break
201039 Series break
200938.5 Series break
200836.7 Series break
200734.8 Series break
200633.1 Series break
200531.6 Series break
200430.4 Series break
200329.4 Series break
200225.9 Series break
200124.8 Series break
200023.8 Series break
199923.1 Series break
199822.5 Series break
199719.8 Series break
199518.1 Series break

Rankings

Definition

People aged 25 to 64 whose highest completed level of education is tertiary (ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8: short-cycle tertiary, bachelor's or equivalent, master's or equivalent, and doctoral), as a percentage of all people aged 25 to 64. Measured by national labour force surveys.

Includes short-cycle tertiary programmes such as US associate degrees, so it is higher than the US bachelors_degree_share, which also covers everyone aged 25 and over.

How to cite

OECD. OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA). https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP. Accessed 2026-10-12. Data reuse terms and downstream attribution: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2026). OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA) (Tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64, South Korea, 1995 to 2025) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP

MLA 9

OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA), Tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64, South Korea, 1995 to 2025. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 12 Oct. 2026, https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/tertiary-education-attainment-25-64/south-korea. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2026. OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA). Tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64, South Korea, 1995 to 2025. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/tertiary-education-attainment-25-64/south-korea.

Harvard

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2026) OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA), Tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64, South Korea, 1995 to 2025 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/en/tertiary-education-attainment-25-64/south-korea (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{organisation_tertiary_education_attainment_ages_2025,
  author = {{Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development}},
  title = {{OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD\_EAG\_LSO\_EA@DF\_LSO\_NEAC\_DISTR\_EA): Tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64, South Korea, 1995 to 2025}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/tertiary-education-attainment-25-64/south-korea. Publisher attribution: OECD. OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD\_EAG\_LSO\_EA@DF\_LSO\_NEAC\_DISTR\_EA). https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ\&df[id]=DSD\_EAG\_LSO\_EA\%40DF\_LSO\_NEAC\_DISTR\_EA\&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP. Accessed 2026-10-12. Data reuse terms and downstream attribution: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
TI  - OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA): Tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64, South Korea, 1995 to 2025
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/12
PB  - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP
L2  - https://invokely.ai/en/tertiary-education-attainment-25-64/south-korea
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/tertiary-education-attainment-25-64/south-korea.
N1  - Publisher attribution: OECD. OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA). https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_EAG_LSO_EA%40DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA&df[ag]=OECD.EDU.IMEP. Accessed 2026-10-12. Data reuse terms and downstream attribution: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html.
ER  -
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Questions

What is the tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64 in South Korea?

Tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64 in South Korea was 58.2% in 2025, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. That is up 2 pts from 2024. That is the 3rd highest of 36 countries in 2025.

Where does this figure come from?

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. OECD Education at a Glance: share of 25 to 64 year-olds with tertiary education, ISCED 2011 levels 5 to 8 (DSD_EAG_LSO_EA@DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA). Retrieved by Invokely on 2026-10-12.

What was the highest tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64 in South Korea?

58.2% in 2025, the highest value since 1995 in this series.

Tertiary education attainment, ages 25 to 64 in other countries

Related statistics for South Korea

All statistics for South Korea | South Korea in figures