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