Business and Geographic Segment Information - Additional Information (Details)	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020 campus licensed_institution segment educational_institution state
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of operating segments (segment) \| segment	6
Brazil
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of postsecondary educational institutions (educational institution)	11
Number of states in which entity operates (state) \| state	7
Post secondary students enrolled in private higher education institutions, percent	73.00%
Mexico
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of postsecondary educational institutions (educational institution)	2
Number of campuses of postsecondary educational institutions (campus) \| campus	35
Asia Pacific
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of licensed institutions managed through joint venture arrangements (licensed institution) \| licensed_institution	1
PERU
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of postsecondary educational institutions (educational institution)	3

Number Of Campuses Of Postsecondary Educational Institutions

No definition available.

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Balance Type:	na
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- 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

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Namespace Prefix:	laur_
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Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Post Secondary Students Enrolled in Private Higher Education Institutions, Percent

+ 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

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 280
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 18
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120311839&loc=d3e8672-108599

+ Details

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Balance Type:	na
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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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Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
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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Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
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- Details

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- Details

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- Details

Name:	srt_StatementGeographicalAxis=srt_AsiaPacificMember
Namespace Prefix:
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- Details

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