Disclosed is a method for quantifying HDL2 cholesterol in a test sample without requiring laborious operations. The method for quantifying cholesterol comprises allowing phospholipase to act on HDL to quantify cholesterol. Also disclosed is a method comprising: a first step of transferring cholesterols other than high-density lipoproteins in a test sample to the outside of the reaction system; and a second step of quantifying high-density lipoprotein 2 cholesterol among the high-density lipoproteins remaining in the reaction system; wherein, by performing the second step by the above method, high-density lipoprotein 2 cholesterol in the test sample can be quantified.