Asia > Korea, South > Education

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Children out of school, primary	14,161		[48th of 126]
View time series
Education enrolment by level > Tertiary level	3,223,431		[1st of 150]
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database		View time series
Education spending (% of GDP)	4.2%		[79th of 132]
DEFINITION: Government Education Expenditure (% of GDP, 2000-2002)
SOURCE: Source: UNESCO UIS Data | UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Education spending (% of total government expenditure)	15.5%		[44th of 96]
DEFINITION: Public educational expenditure as a percent of overall government expenditure.
SOURCE: United Nations Human Development Programme
Education, primary completion rate	101		[1st of 148]
SOURCE: United Nations Human Development Programme		View time series
Geographical aptitude results	59.809		[174th of 191]
DEFINITION: Overall score based upon test results of the Geography Challenge, an online geography quiz game.
SOURCE: Source: UNESCO UIS Data | UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Illiteracy rates by sex, aged 15+	1.9%		[115th of 138]
SOURCE: The Geography Zone		View time series
Library books	2,576,000		[35th of 81]
SOURCE: Source: UNESCO UIS Data | UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Mathematical literacy	547		[2nd of 27]
DEFINITION: Mathematical literacy mean value of performance scale 15 years old 2000
SOURCE: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Public spending on education, total > % of government expenditure	14.98 %		[34th of 103]
DEFINITION: Public expenditure on education consists of current and capital public expenditure on education plus subsidies to private education at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.		View time series
SOURCE: OECD
Pupil-teacher ratio, primary	29.02		[43rd of 159]
DEFINITION: Primary school pupil-teacher ratio is the number of pupils enrolled in primary school divided by the number of primary school teachers (regardless of their teaching assignment).		View time series
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database
Reading literacy	525		[6th of 27]
DEFINITION: Reading literacy mean value of performance scale (15 years old, 2000)
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database
School life expectancy > Male	15.3 years		[10th of 97]
DEFINITION: School life expectancy and transition from primary to secondary for school years 1998/99 and 1999/00, published in http://www.uis.unesco.org accessed on Sept. 2002 and Women's Indicators and Statistics Database (Wistat), Version 4, CD-ROM (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.00.XVII.4) based on data provided by UNESCO in 1999.
SOURCE: OECD
School life expectancy > Total	14.6 years		[21st of 110]
DEFINITION: School life expectancy and transition from primary to secondary for school years 1998/99 and 1999/00, published in http://www.uis.unesco.org accessed on Sept. 2002 and Women's Indicators and Statistics Database (Wistat), Version 4, CD-ROM (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.00.XVII.4) based on data provided by UNESCO in 1999.
SOURCE: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Scientific literacy	552		[1st of 27]
DEFINITION: Scientific literacy mean value of performance scale 15 years old (2000)
SOURCE: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Universities > Top 100	1		[21st of 22]
DEFINITION: Number of universities in the top 100
SOURCE: OECD
Universities > Top 200	3		[13th of 31]
DEFINITION: Number of universities in the top 200
SOURCE: The Times, 2005
Universities > Top 500	8		[13th of 38]
DEFINITION: Number of universities in the top 500
SOURCE: The Times, 2005
Women to men parity index, as ratio of literacy rates, aged 15-24	1		[22nd of 138]
SOURCE: Shanghai Jiao Tong University		View time series
Young longtext readers	14		[23rd of 27]
DEFINITION: Share of 15-year-olds who are frequent longtext readers(2000)
SOURCE: Source: UNESCO UIS Data | UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Interesting facts on Korean Education

• Japanese and South Korean kids are the best in the world at science and maths.

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