Business and Geographic Segment Information - Additional Information (Details)	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2019 campus educational_institution state licensed_institution segment
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of operating segments (segment) \| segment	6
Brazil
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of students attending post secondary education In a private educational institutions, percent	75.00%
Number of postsecondary educational institutions (educational institution) \| educational_institution	13
Number of states in which entity operates (state) \| state	8
Mexico
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of postsecondary educational institutions (educational institution) \| educational_institution	2
Number of campuses of postsecondary educational institutions (campus) \| campus	40
Chile
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of students attending post secondary education In a private educational institutions, percent	80.00%
Asia Pacific
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of licensed institutions managed through joint venture arrangements (licensed institution) \| licensed_institution	1
Saudi Arabia
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of licensed institutions managed through joint venture arrangements (licensed institution) \| licensed_institution	8

Number Of Campuses Of Postsecondary Educational Institutions

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	laur_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of Licensed institutions Managed Through Joint Venture Arrangements

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	laur_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Number Of Postsecondary Educational Institutions

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	laur_NumberOfPostsecondaryEducationalInstitutions
Namespace Prefix:	laur_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number Of Students Attending Post Secondary Education In A Private Educational Institutions, Percentage

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	laur_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of operating segments. An operating segment is a component of an enterprise: (a) that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses (including revenues and expenses relating to transactions with other components of the same enterprise), (b) whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the enterprise's chief operating decision maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance, and (c) for which discrete financial information is available. An operating segment may engage in business activities for which it has yet to earn revenues, for example, start-up operations may be operating segments before earning revenues.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
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- Definition

The number of states the entity operates in as of the balance sheet date.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
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Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Period Type:	duration

- Details

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- Details

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- Details

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- Details

Name:	srt_StatementGeographicalAxis=srt_AsiaPacificMember
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- Details

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