Korea, Rep.

East Asia & Pacific · High income· 51.71M inhabitants

Last updated: May 27, 2025

Futures readiness profile

Key insights: Korea, Rep.

Korea, Rep. demonstrates relatively outstanding readiness for the future of education, leading most global peers across all GEFRI dimensions. This country excels particularly in School Access and Gender Parity (96, 94th percentile), Innovation (91, 100th percentile), Infrastructure (77, 89th percentile), Governance (74, 87th percentile), and Human Capital (65, 90th percentile). This high across-the-board performance signals a robust foundation for adapting or leapfrogging ahead of the fast-changing demands of education, society, and the workforce. To maintain and extend this leadership, continued policy innovation, investment in emerging areas, and vigilance against complacency are crucial.

Composite GEFRI Score

80.49

99th percentile

Higher scores indicate greater education futures readiness

Component scores

School Access and Gender Parity95.94

Above global avg. · 94th %-tile

Governance74.14

Above global avg. · 87th %-tile

Captures the effectiveness and quality of policies, regulations, and governance that shape the educational environment.

Infrastructure76.82

Above global avg. · 89th %-tile

Measures the availability and quality of basic digital and electrical infrastructure that supports education.

Human Capital65.02

Above global avg. · 90th %-tile

Assesses the educational attainment and capacity of a country’s population, focusing on access and completion at secondary and tertiary levels as well as literacy.

Innovation90.53

Above global avg. · 100th %-tile

Reflects a country’s capacity to foster, produce, and apply new knowledge and technology in society and education.

Regional peers: East Asia & Pacific

Global rank	Regional rank	Country	Score
3	1	Korea, Rep.	80.49
4	2	Singapore	79.66
6	3	Hong Kong SAR, China	79.05
8	4	Australia	78.42
10	5	Japan	78.25
17	6	New Zealand	75.41
—	—	Northern Mariana Islands(microstate)	71.23
—	—	New Caledonia(microstate)	70.42
—	—	Guam(microstate)	69.37
—	—	American Samoa(microstate)	68.93
—	—	French Polynesia(microstate)	68.41
45	7	China	64.25
48	8	Thailand	62.96
49	9	Malaysia	62.68
57	10	Brunei Darussalam	60.96
61	11	Indonesia	59.35
63	12	Mongolia	59.27
67	13	Macao SAR, China	57.83
—	—	Palau(microstate)	57.60
—	—	Tuvalu(microstate)	57.31
70	14	Viet Nam	56.58
72	15	Fiji	56.51
74	16	Philippines	56.32
—	—	Nauru(microstate)	54.97
—	—	Kiribati(microstate)	52.36
—	—	Samoa(microstate)	51.55
—	—	Tonga(microstate)	50.38
106	17	Timor-Leste	47.76
—	—	Micronesia, Fed. Sts.(microstate)	46.58
110	18	Korea, Dem. People's Rep.	44.79
—	—	Marshall Islands(microstate)	44.62
122	19	Vanuatu	40.07
126	20	Cambodia	36.21
131	21	Myanmar	33.54
132	22	Solomon Islands	33.52
136	23	Lao PDR	31.98
150	24	Papua New Guinea	26.63