Primary school enrollment 2002/03

All UN member states have agreed to reach a set of Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015. The MDGs address poverty in its many dimensions and one goal is to "ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling."

At the end of April, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics released the Global Education Digest 2005 with the latest global education indicators, in most cases for the 2002/03 school year. The map below indicates the primary school net enrollment ratio (NER) in each country, that is the share of children of primary school age that are currently enrolled in primary school. For several countries, among them Argentina, China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, no reliable statistics were available.

Primary school net enrollment ratio, 2002/2003

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2005. Global Education Digest 2005. Montreal: UIS.

Worldwide, 84% of all children of primary school age were enrolled in primary school. The highest NER values - above 90% - were reported for the industrialized countries, Latin America and the Caribbean, and East Asia and the Pacific. School enrollment is lowest in West and Central Africa (61%) and in Eastern and Southern Africa (69%). Many countries in these regions are far from the goal of universal primary education.

Primary school net enrollment ratio, 2002/03

Region	Primary school NER (%)
	Male	Female	Total
East Asia, Pacific	92.2	90.5	91.2
Eastern and Southern Africa	70.7	67.8	69.3
Eastern Europe, CIS	89.2	86.6	87.9
Industrialized countries	95.5	96.0	95.7
Latin America, Caribbean	95.1	93.6	95.0
Middle East, North Africa	83.9	77.7	80.9
South Asia	85.8	79.9	83.0
West and Central Africa	67.9	54.6	61.4
World	85.8	81.5	83.8

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2005. Global Education Digest 2005. Montreal: UIS.
Note: Regional values are weighted by each country's population of primary school age.

In addition to having the lowest share of children in school, West and Central Africa is also the region with the highest gender disparity. Among boys, 68% were enrolled in primary school, compared to only 55% of girls.

Friedrich Huebler, 22 May 2005, Creative Commons License

Global Education Digest 2005

UNESCO has released the Global Education Digest 2005, with data for the 2002/03 school year. In the coming weeks I will present the latest data on primary and secondary school enrollment, on the gender disparity in primary and secondary school, and on other aspects of education, including repetition rates and school life expectancy.

I will also begin to present data from household surveys. Two important sources of data on education are the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) of UNICEF and the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) that were initiated by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Friedrich Huebler, 18 May 2005, Creative Commons License

Repetition rates in primary and secondary school

A comparison of primary school gross and net enrollment rates indicates that there is a high share of late entrants and grade repeaters in Sub-Saharan Africa. Repetition rates in primary and secondary school are listed in the Global Education Digest 2004 from UNESCO. Primary repetition rates are available for 138 countries, secondary repetition rates for 125 countries. The most recent values for each country are plotted in the graph below, with regions, as defined by UNICEF, indicated by different symbols.

Repetition rates in primary and secondary school, 2001/02

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2004. Global Education Digest 2004. Montreal: UIS.

The 15 countries with the highest share of repeaters at the primary level are located in West and Central Africa or Eastern and Southern Africa. The highest primary school repetition rates are observed in Equatorial Guinea (40.5%), Rwanda (36.1%) and Gabon (34.4%). Of the 17 countries with the highest share of repeaters at the secondary level, 15 are in Sub-Saharan Africa and 2 in the Middle East and North Africa. The highest secondary school repetition rates exist in Congo (30.8%), Iraq (27.5%), and Algeria (27.2%).

Average repetition rates per region, primary and secondary school, 2001/02

Region	Repetition rate (%)
	Primary school	Secondary school
East Asia, Pacific	1.9	2.2
Eastern and Southern Africa	12.4	12.3
Eastern Europe, CIS	1.2	1.2
Industrialized countries	2.1	3.9
Latin America, Caribbean	10.0	7.4
Middle East, North Africa	8.0	12.9
South Asia	4.5	5.0
West and Central Africa	12.9	18.8
World	6.0	7.8

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2004. Global Education Digest 2004. Montreal: UIS.
Note: Regional values are weighted by each country's population of primary school age.

Regional averages, weighted by each country's population of primary school age, are listed in the table above. Worldwide, 6.0% of primary students and 7.8% of secondary students repeat a grade. In primary school, repetition rates are highest in West and Central Africa (average repetition rate 12.9%), Eastern and Souther Africa (12.4%), and Latin America and the Caribbean (10.0%). In secondary school, the highest repetition rates are observed in West and Central Africa (18.8%), the Middle East and North Africa (12.0%), and in Eastern and Southern Africa (12.3%).

In East Asia and the Pacific, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the industrialized countries, and South Asia, not more than 5% of pupils at the primary or secondary level repeat a grade.

Friedrich Huebler, 9 May 2005, Creative Commons License

School life expectancy

The school life expectancy is the number of years a person of school entrance age can expect to spend in school. This indicator combines information on enrollment rates in primary and secondary education and can therefore be used to compare countries with different lengths of primary or secondary school. In addition, this indicator compensates for late entry into the education system. One limitation is that years spent repeating a grade also count as years spent in school. In countries where repetition rates are high the school life expectancy can therefore be inflated.

School life expectancy in years, primary to secondary education, 2001/02

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2004. Global Education Digest 2004. Montreal: UIS.

Average school life expectancy in years per region, primary to secondary education, 2001/02

Region	School life expectancy (years)
East Asia, Pacific	9.7
Eastern and Southern Africa	7.5
Eastern Europe, CIS	9.9
Industrialized countries	12.6
Latin America, Caribbean	11.7
Middle East, North Africa	9.2
South Asia	7.9
West and Central Africa	6.0
World	9.3

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2004. Global Education Digest 2004. Montreal: UIS.
Note: Regional values are weighted by each country's population under 18 years of age.

The Global Education Digest 2004 from UNESCO contains data on school life expectancy for nearly all countries. The global average is 9.3 expected years of schooling for every child. At the regional level, the school life expectancy is highest in the industrialized countries (12.6 years) and in Latin America (11.7 years). The lowest school life expectancy is observed in West and Central Africa (6 years) and in Eastern and Southern Africa (7.5 years). Sub-Saharan Africa also has the lowest primary and secondary school enrollment rates.

Friedrich Huebler, 1 May 2005, Creative Commons License