5 Most Educated Countries in Asia

In this article, we take a look at the 5 most educated countries in Asia. If you would like to look at our detailed analysis of education in Asia, you can go to the 20 Most Educated Countries in Asia. 

5. Armenia

Literacy Rate (2020): 100%

Tertiary Enrollment (2022): 60%

Mean Years of Schooling (2022): 11.3

Average Rank: 10.5 

Armenia is one of the most educated countries in Asia. On October 24, 2023, UNICEF reported that Armenia had managed to enroll two-thirds of the country’s refugee children in national school systems. This news came one month after almost 21,000 refuge-seeking children had arrived in the country.

4. Cyprus

Literacy Rate (2021): 99%

Tertiary Enrollment (2021): 97%

Mean Years of Schooling (2022): 12.4 

Average Rank: 8

Cyprus is ranked fourth on our list of the most educated countries in Asia, with 99% of its population above 15 being able to read and write adequately. The country has a fairly high tertiary enrollment rate of 97%, which grants it its status on this list.

3. South Korea

Literacy Rate (2018): 99%

Tertiary Enrollment (2021): 100%

Mean Years of Schooling (2022): 12.6

Average Rank: 8

Approximately 37% of the children in South Korea were able to reach the ‘advanced benchmark’ in TIMSS 2019. The country also ranked in the top six scorers for all subjects in both TIMSS 2019 and PISA 2022.

2. Kazakhstan

Literacy Rate (2020): 100%

Tertiary Enrollment (2020): 65%

Mean Years of Schooling (2022): 12.4 

Average Rank: 7.5 

The International Trade Association reports that 90% of Kazakhstan’s population manages to complete education up to the secondary level or beyond, making this one of the most educated countries in Asia.

1. Georgia

Literacy Rate (2022): 100%

Tertiary Enrollment (2022): 79%

Mean Years of Schooling (2022): 12.7

Average Rank: 7

In July 2022, the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia announced that it would start introducing media literacy as a topic in school curriculums with the help of transnational organizations like UNICEF and USAID. Georgia ranks first on our list of most educated countries in Asia.  

You can also look at the 20 Most Expensive Countries to Get Netflix and the 20 Countries that Receive the Most Foreign Direct Investment.