UNICEF statistical review: Progress for Children

On 10 December 2007, UNICEF launched a new publication, Progress for Children: A World Fit for Children Statistical Review. With more than 60 pages of graphs and tables, the report draws a detailed statistical picture of the current state of the world's children. The publication is divided into sections organized by Millennium Development Goal.

• MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education
• MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
• MDG 4: Reduce child mortality
• MDG 5: Improve maternal health
• MDG 6: Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

An additional section has data on protection against abuse, exploitation, and violence.

Some findings of the report in the area of education are:

• The number of children out of school has fallen from 115 million in 2002 to 93 million in 2005-2006.
• More than three quarters of all children out of school worldwide live in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
• Secondary school net attendance or enrollment rates are below 50 percent in many countries, including most of Africa.
• Almost all countries in North and South America, Europe, Central Asia, and East Asia have reached the goal of gender parity in primary education.
• Few countries have reached gender parity in secondary education.
• Child labor, which interferes with education, is most prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Excerpt from Progress for Children: Data on primary and secondary education

Source: UNICEF 2007: p. 14-15.

References

• UNICEF. 2007. Progress for Children: A World Fit for Children Statistical Review. New York: UNICEF. (Download in PDF format, 3.6 MB)

Related articles

• Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2008
• Global Education Digest 2007 by UNESCO
• UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2007

External links

• Progress for Children website by UNICEF
• Millennium Development Goals

Friedrich Huebler, 15 December 2007, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/12/unicef-statistical-review-progress-for.html

Primary school attendance by state in India

The average primary school net attendance rate in India is 83 percent according to data from a Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) conducted in 2005 and 2006. However, the national average hides considerable regional variation in primary school attendance. India is divided into 28 states and 7 union territories. With the DHS data it is possible to calculate the primary school NAR in 29 states and territories, shown in the map and table below.

Primary school attendance in India by state and territory, 2006

Data source: India DHS 2005-06

The states with the highest primary school net attendance rates, between 98 and 99 percent, are Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. In these states, virtually all children of primary school age are in school. Six other states also have primary NAR values above 90 percent: Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Mizoram, and Uttarakhand. In fifteen states and territories the primary NAR is between 80 and 90 percent.

In six states, fewer than four out of five children of primary school age are in school: Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Sikkim. By far the lowest primary school attendance rates are observed in Bihar (59 percent) and Meghalaya (60 percent), two of the poorest and economically least developed states of India.

Primary school attendance in India by state and territory, 2006

State or Territory	Primary NAR (%)	State or Territory	Primary NAR (%)
Andaman and Nicobar Islands	-	Lakshadweep	-
Andhra Pradesh	89.2	Madhya Pradesh	81.0
Arunachal Pradesh	67.3	Maharashtra	91.7
Assam	91.1	Manipur	80.3
Bihar	58.5	Meghalaya	60.4
Chandigarh	-	Mizoram	91.8
Chhattisgarh	86.5	Nagaland	71.9
Dadra and Nagar Haveli	-	Orissa	86.8
Daman and Diu	-	Puducherry	-
Delhi	89.9	Punjab	89.1
Goa	94.1	Rajasthan	81.0
Gujarat	91.1	Sikkim	77.6
Haryana	87.6	Tamil Nadu	98.5
Himachal Pradesh	97.8	Tripura	89.6
Jammu and Kashmir	86.7	Uttar Pradesh	81.4
Jharkhand	72.1	Uttarakhand	93.4
Karnataka	88.5	West Bengal	85.1
Kerala	98.1	India	83.3

Data source: India DHS 2005-06

Related articles

• Primary school attendance in India in 2006
  
• India has 21 million children out of school
• Educational attainment in India, 1950-2000
• Primary school completion in India, 1950-2000
• Education disparity in South Asia

External links

• States and territories of India (Wikipedia)
• Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), India
• National Family Health Survey (NFHS), India

Friedrich Huebler, 9 December 2007 (edited 12 October 2008), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/12/primary-school-attendance-by-state-in.html

EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008

On 29 November 2007, UNESCO released the 2008 edition of the annual Education for All Global Monitoring Report, with the title Education for All by 2015: Will we make it? The report, now in its sixth edition, monitors progress towards the six Education for All goals adopted at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal in 2000:

1. Expand and improve early childhood care and education.
2. Provide free and compulsory universal primary education by 2015.
3. Equitable access to learning and life-skills programs.
4. Achieve a 50% improvement in adult literacy rates.
5. Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005 and at all levels by 2015.
6. Improve all aspects of the quality of education.

Some highlights of the 2008 report are:

• Between 1999 and 2005, primary school enrollment rose from 647 million to 688 million worldwide. The rate of increase was particularly high in Sub-Saharan Africa and in South and West Asia. As a result, the global number of children out of school fell from 96 million in 1999 to 72 million in 2005.
• Projections based on current trends show that more than 50 countries will not achieve universal primary education by 2015.
• One third of all countries missed the goal of gender parity in primary education by 2005. Two thirds of all countries missed the goal of gender parity in secondary education. According to projections, more than 90 countries will not reach gender parity in primary and secondary education by 2015.
• Fourteen countries abolished primary school fees since 2000 but the cost of schooling remains an obstacle for millions of children.
• The emphasis by the international community on primary education has come at the expense of early childhood education and literacy programs for youth and adults.
• One in five adults lacks basic literacy skills. Women account for two thirds of all illiterate adults worldwide. Three quarters of all countries for which projections were calculated will miss the goal of halving adult illiteracy rates by 2015.

The EFA Global Monitoring Report offers a great amount of data and statistical analysis. An annex contains more than 140 pages of statistical tables with national, regional and global data up to the year 2005.

References

• UNESCO. 2007. Education for all by 2015: Will we make it? - EFA global monitoring report 2008. Paris: UNESCO. (Download in PDF format, 11.8 MB)

Related articles

• EFA Global Monitoring Report 2009
• Global Education Digest 2007 by UNESCO
• UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2007

External links

• Announcement of the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008 by UNESCO
• Regional overviews of progress towards the EFA goals
• Education for All website by UNESCO

Friedrich Huebler, 3 December 2007 (edited 8 December 2008), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/12/efa-global-monitoring-report-2008.html

Primary school attendance in India in 2006

21 million children of primary school age in India were out of school in 2006, more than in any other country. Compared to 2000, the number of children out of school has fallen by 9 million, but the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015 can only be met if the increase in primary school attendance accelerates in the coming years.

According to data from a nationally representative Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), the primary school net attendance rate (NAR) in India was 83 percent in 2006. (In India, the DHS is referred to as National Family Health Survey or NFHS.) In other words, more than 8 out of 10 children of primary school age (6-10 years in India) were attending primary school. In 2000, the primary school net attendance rate was 76 percent. Although the attendance rate has increased, there are persistent disparities in the education system of India. The bar graph below displays the primary school NAR by sex, area of residence, and household wealth. 85 percent of all boys and 81 percent of all girls are in school and the country is therefore close to gender parity. On the other hand, there is a larger gap between urban and rural areas. The urban primary NAR is 89 percent and the rural NAR is 82 percent.

Primary school net attendance rate (NAR), India 2006

Data source: India Demographic and Health Survey 2005-06

Disaggregation by household wealth reveals even greater disparities. 96 percent of all primary-school-age children from the richest household quintile are in school. With declining household wealth, the share of children in school also falls. In the poorest household quintile, the primary NAR is only 69 percent, almost one third below the NAR in the richest households. As a consequence, children from the poorest households make up almost half of all children out of school in India. An earlier article on this site contains additional data on children out of school in India.

Note on NAR calculation

The official report for the India DHS lists the primary NAR as 71.9 percent (IIPS and Macro International 2007a, Table 2.8, page 31). The primary NAR cited above, 83.3 percent, is higher because of a different calculation method. The DHS report uses the traditional definition of the primary school net attendance rate, which only considers attendance in primary school and ignores attendance at higher levels of education.

• Primary NAR (traditional definition) = Number of children of primary school age in primary school / Total number of children of primary school age

A joint report by UNESCO and UNICEF, Children out of school: Measuring exclusion from primary education (UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2005), introduced a revised method to calculate the primary NAR. In contrast to the traditional calculation method, school attendance at primary or higher levels of education is considered.

• Primary NAR (revised definition) = Number of children of primary school age in primary school or higher / Total number of children of primary school age

In countries like India, where a relatively large number of children of primary school age are already in secondary school, the traditional calculation method underestimates the true level of participation in the education system and overestimates the number of children out of school. During an assessment of progress toward universal primary education, the primary NAR published in the final DHS report would lead to the wrong conclusion that almost 30 percent of all children of primary school age are not in school in India. In fact, fewer than 17 percent of all children of primary school age are not in school.

References

• International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), and Macro International. 2007a. National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) 2005-06, India: Volume 1. Mumbai: IIPS. (Download in PDF format, 7.9 MB)
• International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), and Macro International. 2007b. National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) 2005-06, India: Volume II. Mumbai: IIPS. (Download in PDF format, 4.1 MB)
• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2005. Children out of school: Measuring exclusion from primary education. Montreal: UIS. (Download in PDF format, 4.9 MB)

Related articles

• Primary school attendance by state in India
• India has 21 million children out of school
• Educational attainment in India, 1950-2000
• Primary school completion in India, 1950-2000
• Education disparity in South Asia
• 115 million children out of school

External links

• Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), India
• National Family Health Survey (NFHS), India
• UN Millennium Development Goals

Friedrich Huebler, 19 November 2007 (edited 12 October 2008), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/11/primary-school-attendance-in-india-in.html

India has 21 million children out of school

India is the country with the largest number of children out of school. India has more children of school age than China and at the same time relatively low attendance rates, in spite of recent increases in primary and secondary school participation.

Newly released data from a Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) show that the primary school attendance rate has increased by more than one percentage point annually since the beginning of the decade. In 2000, 76 percent of all children of primary school age (6-10 years) were in school. By 2006, this value had increased to 83 percent (see Table 1). The attendance rate of girls increased by 9 percent over the 2000-2006 period and the attendance rate of boys by 6 percent. School attendance rates also grew in urban and rural areas, and across all household wealth quintiles. However, close to 17 percent of all children of primary school age continue to be out of school.

Table 1: Children of primary school age in school (percent), India 2000 and 2006

	2000	2006	Change 2000 to 2006
Male	79.2	85.2	5.9
Female	72.3	81.4	9.1
Urban	82.5	88.5	5.9
Rural	73.8	81.5	7.7
Poorest 20%	66.1	69.4	3.2
Second 20%	69.2	81.2	12.1
Middle 20%	78.8	87.5	8.7
Fourth 20%	82.1	92.2	10.1
Richest 20%	89.1	95.7	6.6
Total	75.9	83.3	7.5

Data sources: India Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2000, India DHS 2005-06.

As a result of the increase in primary school attendance, the number of children out of school fell by almost one third from 30 million in 2000 to 21 million in 2006 (see Table 2). This pattern could be observed for boys and girls, and for residents of urban and rural areas. However, disaggregation by household wealth reveals that one group of children did not follow the nationwide trend. Among the poorest 20 percent of all households, the number of children out of school grew from 9.4 million in 2000 to 9.8 million in 2006. Although the primary school net attendance rate among children from the poorest households grew by 3 percentage points from 2000 to 2006 (see Table 1), this increase was not strong enough to keep pace with population growth in the poorest segment of the Indian population.

Table 2: Children of primary school age out of school (million), India 2000 and 2006

	2000	2006	Change 2000 to 2006
Male	13.0	9.5	-3.5
Female	16.4	11.2	-5.2
Urban	5.0	3.7	-1.3
Rural	24.5	17.0	-7.5
Poorest 20%	9.4	9.8	0.5
Second 20%	8.5	5.3	-3.2
Middle 20%	5.2	3.1	-2.1
Fourth 20%	4.3	1.7	-2.6
Richest 20%	2.0	0.8	-1.3
Total	29.5	20.7	-8.7

Data sources: India MICS 2000, India DHS 2005-06.

A comparison of the composition of the total population of primary school age and the population of children out of school shows which group of children are disproportionately more likely to miss out on education. Figure 1 shows the composition of the Indian population aged 6 to 10 years. 52 percent of all children in this age group are boys and 48 percent are girls. About one quarter of all children of primary school age live in urban areas and the remaining three quarters in rural areas.

Wealth quintiles are constructed by ranking the entire population of India, regardless of age, according to household wealth and dividing them into five equally sized groups with 20 percent each of the total population. As Figure 1 shows, households from poorer quintiles are more likely to have children than households from richer quintiles. Overall, 26 percent of all children between 6 and 10 years live in the bottom quintile and a further 23 percent in the second quintile.

Figure 1: Population of primary school age by sex, area of residence, and wealth quintile, India 2006

Data source: India Demographic and Health Survey 2005-06.

Figure 2: Children of primary school age out of school by sex, area of residence, and wealth quintile, India 2006

Data source: India Demographic and Health Survey 2005-06.

Figure 2 shows the composition of the group of children aged 6 to 10 years that are out of school. Although girls only account for 48 percent of the total number of children in this age group, they make up 54 percent of the children out of school. Rural children are disproportionately more likely to be out of school than urban children. Most strikingly, children from the poorest quintile make up almost half of all children out of school. 48 percent - 10 million of the 21 million children out of school - live in the poorest quintile. 74 percent of all children out of school live in the two poorest quintiles.

These numbers emphasize the close link between poverty and school attendance in India. School attendance rates have increased among the poorest households between 2000 and 2006 but the increase was not large enough to keep pace with population growth. Unless India places more emphasis on school attendance among the poor, the country will miss the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015.

Related articles

• Primary school attendance by state in India
• 115 million children out of school
• Primary school attendance in India in 2006
• Educational attainment in India, 1950-2000
• Primary school completion in India, 1950-2000
• Education disparity in South Asia

External links

• Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)
• Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS)
• UN Millennium Development Goals

Friedrich Huebler, 13 November 2007 (edited 12 October 2008), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/11/india-has-21-million-children-out-of.html

Global Education Digest 2007

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics has released the Global Education Digest 2007: Comparing Education Statistics Across the World. The Global Education Digest is an annual publication that presents the latest statistics on primary, secondary and tertiary education. The 2007 edition contains statistics from more than 200 countries up to the year 2005.

The focus of this year's Global Education Digest is the financing of education. The report draws attention to the fact that public spending on education is concentrated in developed countries. The United States alone accounts for more than one quarter of the global education budget. Countries like France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom have education budgets that exceed the spending on education in all of Sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 15 percent of the world's school-age population but combined spending on education by national governments in the region amounts to only 2.4 percent of the global education budget.

The world is at the midpoint between the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals and the 2015 target date, but without increased spending on education in Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions the goal of universal primary education is unlikely to be met.

External links

• Announcement of the Global Education Digest 2007 by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics
• Download the Global Education Digest 2007 (PDF, 3.7 MB)
• UN Millennium Development Goals

Related articles

• UNESCO releases data from 2006 education survey
• Global Education Digest 2008
• Global Education Digest 2006
• Global Education Digest 2005

Friedrich Huebler, 22 October 2007 (edited 28 December 2008), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/10/global-education-digest-2007.html

Secondary school attendance in Nepal, 1996-2006

Over the past decade, the primary school net attendance rate (NAR) in Nepal increased from 65 percent in 1996 to 84 percent in 2006. At the secondary level of education, school attendance rates have also grown over the same period according to data from three Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), shown in the graph and table below.

In 1996, only one in five children of secondary school age attended secondary school. By 2006, the secondary school NAR had doubled from 21 percent to 42 percent. The biggest relative increase was observed among the poorest households. In the poorest household quintile, the secondary school NAR more than tripled from 8 percent in 1996 to 28 percent in 2006. Most of this increase occurred over the period 2001 to 2006, when attendance rates in the richest households grew only marginally.

Secondary school net attendance rate (%), Nepal 1996-2006

Data source: Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys, 1996, 2001, 2006.

The attendance rates of boys and girls grew by more than 20 percent between 1996 and 2006. The absolute gap between the two groups stayed the same, around 8 percent. The relative gap, measured by the gender parity index, the ratio of female to male attendance rate, improved from 0.67 to 0.83. The latest value is below the gender parity index in primary education, 0.95, but it brings the country closer to the Millennium Development Goal of gender parity in primary and secondary education.

Rural children managed to reduce the gap with urban children. In 1996, the secondary school NAR in urban areas was twice as high as in rural areas (41 versus 20 percent) but by 2006 the NAR in rural areas had doubled to 40 percent, while the NAR in urban areas grew to 52 percent.

Secondary school net attendance rate (%), Nepal 1996-2006

	1996	2001	2006	Change 1996 to 2006
Total	21.3	30.9	41.7	20.4
Male	25.4	35.1	45.7	20.3
Female	17.1	26.6	37.8	20.8
Urban	40.9	50.6	52.4	11.5
Rural	19.5	28.7	40.1	20.5
Poorest 20%	8.4	14.6	27.8	19.4
Second 20%	10.9	20.5	33.3	22.4
Middle 20%	16.7	26.4	40.6	23.9
Fourth 20%	25.6	36.5	50.8	25.2
Richest 20%	43.3	57.0	59.5	16.1

Data source: Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys, 1996, 2001, 2006.

Related articles

• Primary school attendance in Nepal, 1996-2006
• Primary and secondary school attendance in Nepal
• Nepal: trends in primary education, 1980-2004
• Caste, ethnicity, and school attendance in Nepal
• Education disparity in South Asia
• Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007

External links

• United Nations Millennium Development Goals
• Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)

Friedrich Huebler, 26 September 2007 (edited 12 October 2008), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/09/secondary-school-attendance-in-nepal.html

Primary school attendance in Nepal, 1996-2006

In 2006, a Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) collected data on school attendance in Nepal. A comparison with data from earlier DHS surveys, conducted in 1996 and 2001, shows a steady increase in primary school attendance over the last decade. The primary school net attendance rate (NAR) - the share of children of primary school age who attend primary school - has increased by almost 10 percentage points every five years, from 65 percent in 1996 to 84 percent in 2006. If Nepal can sustain this rate of increase it will reach the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015.

The increase in attendance was accompanied by a reduction in disparities between boys and girls, residents of urban and rural areas, and children from different household wealth quintiles (see the graph and table below). Much of the increase in primary school attendance is due to higher attendance rates in rural areas, especially over the period 2001 to 2005, when attendance in urban areas grew only marginally.

Primary school net attendance rate (%), Nepal 1996-2006

Data source: Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys, 1996, 2001, 2006.

Children from the poorest 20 percent of all households saw the biggest increase in primary school attendance, from 48 percent in 1996 to 77 percent 2006. The difference in the primary NAR between children from the richest and poorest household quintiles fell by more than half over the same period, from 42 percent in 1996 to 20 percent in 2006.

Nepal also achieved a marked reduction in gender disparity over the past 10 years. In 1996, only 56 percent of all girls of primary school age attended primary school. This share grew to 82 percent by 2006. The primary NAR of boys grew from 74 percent to 86 percent over the same period. With a gender parity index (GPI) of 0.95 - the ratio of female to male NAR - Nepal has almost reached the Millennium Development Goal of gender parity in primary education.

Primary school net attendance rate (%), Nepal 1996-2006

	1996	2001	2006	Change 1996 to 2006
Total	65.1	73.5	84.1	19.0
Male	73.6	79.9	86.0	12.3
Female	56.4	66.8	82.0	25.6
Urban	84.3	89.8	90.2	5.9
Rural	63.6	72.0	83.2	19.6
Poorest 20%	48.4	59.6	76.7	28.3
Second 20%	59.7	67.4	79.8	20.1
Middle 20%	62.0	75.1	84.3	22.3
Fourth 20%	72.6	78.2	86.9	14.3
Richest 20%	90.6	94.3	96.9	6.2

Data source: Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys, 1996, 2001, 2006.

Comments on the 2006 DHS data

The authors of the final survey report from the 2006 DHS in Nepal counted children in school-based pre-primary centers as primary school students for the calculation of the primary school NAR. Children in informal, community based preschool classes were excluded from the calculation of the primary NAR. The author of this article chose the same approach.

A UNESCO country profile of Nepal prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007 explains that "there are significant differences in the way the school based and the community based [early childhood development centres] are running. Most of the school based centres are run by the DEO [District Education Office], and most of them are more primary schools than development centres."

The statement by UNESCO supports the treatment of children in school-based pre-primary centers in Nepal as equivalent to children in primary school for statistical purposes. In developing countries it is not uncommon to find children of primary school age in preschool but because of national differences the interpretation of the data from Nepal cannot necessarily be applied to other countries.

Related articles

• Secondary school attendance in Nepal, 1996-2006
• Primary and secondary school attendance in Nepal
• Nepal: trends in primary education, 1980-2004
• Caste, ethnicity, and school attendance in Nepal
• Education disparity in South Asia
• Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007

External links

• United Nations Millennium Development Goals
• Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)
• Nepal: Early childhood care and education (ECCE) programmes, UNESCO 2006 (PDF, 56 KB)
• Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2006, final report (PDF, 4.95 MB)

Friedrich Huebler, 14 August 2007 (edited 12 October 2008), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/08/primary-school-attendance-in-nepal-1996.html

Disparity between male and female literacy rates

Millennium Development Goal 3 calls for gender equality and the empowerment of women. One aspect of gender equality is literacy among men and women. In June 2007, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) released new statistics on adult literacy and youth literacy. The adult literacy rate represents the population aged 15 years and older and the youth literacy rate the population aged 15 to 24 years. The most recent literacy data is from the year 2005.

Figure 1 compares the male and female literacy rates in 135 countries. The male literacy rate is plotted along the horizontal axis and the female literacy rate along the vertical axis. For each country, up to two points are drawn, one for adult literacy and one for youth literacy. The location of a country relative to the 45 degree line indicates whether more men or women are literate. If the literacy rate of men and women is the same, the country's marker is located on the 45 degree line. If the male literacy rate is higher than the female literacy rate, the marker is below the 45 degree line. In countries above the 45 degree line, a higher share of women is literate.

Figure 1: Male and female literacy rates

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, June 2007.

The distribution of the points in Figure 1 shows clearly that in most countries the female literacy rate is below the male literacy rate. In Afghanistan, only 12.6 percent of all women over 15 years can read and write, compared to 43.1 percent of men. In Chad, the female literacy rate is 12.8 percent and the male literacy rate 40.8 percent. In four more countries, fewer than 20 percent of all women are literate: Niger (15.1 percent), Mali (15.9 percent), Burkina Faso (16.6 percent), and Guinea (18.1 percent). In 23 countries in total, less than half of the adult female population can read and write.

Male literacy rates are generally at a higher level but 8 countries have male adult literacy rates below 50 percent. In addition to Afghanistan and Chad, these countries are: Burkina Faso (male literacy rate 31.4 percent), Mali (32.7 percent), Guinea (42.6 percent), Niger (42.9 percent), Sierra Leone (46.7 percent), and Benin (47.9 percent).

Table 1 summarizes the literacy data from UNESCO. On average, the difference between male and female literacy rates is 12.8 percent among the adult population and 7.2 percent among the population aged 15 to 24 years. The smaller gender disparity among youth is due to trends in school attendance over the past years. Attendance has increased for both boys and girls but attendance rates have grown at a faster pace among girls.

Table 1: Male and female literacy rates

Adult or youth literacy	Countries with data	Male literacy rate (%)	Female literacy rate (%)	Difference male-female literacy rate (%)
Adult literacy (15 years and older)	135	84.9	72.1	12.8
Youth literacy (15-24 years)	132	89.4	82.2	7.2

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, June 2007. Average values are weighted by each country's adult and youth population.

In spite of the movement towards gender equality, large gaps remain. In four countries, the gap between male and female literacy among the adult population is greater than 30 percent: Yemen (male literacy rate 73.1 percent, female 34.7 percent, difference 38.4 percent), Central African Republic (male 64.8, female 33.5, difference 32.3), Afghanistan (male 43.1, female 12.6, difference 30.5), and Togo (male 68.7, female 38.5, difference 30.2). In 18 more countries, the male-female gap is between 20 and 30 percent. These countries are, in descending order of the size of the gap: Mozambique (difference male-female literacy rate 29.9 percent), Pakistan, Angola, Chad, Niger, Nepal, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Morocco, India, Benin, Guinea, Egypt, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Malawi, and Cambodia (difference 20.6 percent).

In a few countries, female literacy rates are above male literacy rates. In Lesotho, 90.3 percent of all women aged 15 years and older are literate, compared to 73.7 percent of all men (difference 16.6 percent). In Jamaica, the adult literacy rate is 85.9 percent among women and 74.1 percent among men (difference 11.8 percent). In four more countries, the literacy rate of women is between 3 and 1 percent above the male literacy rate: Malta, Philippines, Botswana, and Uruguay.

The youth literacy rate among the female population is more than 1 percentage point above the male literacy rate in 16 countries (listed in descending order of the gap): Nicaragua, Liberia, Honduras, El Salvador, Botswana, Malta, Philippines, Swaziland, Qatar, Dominican Republic, Namibia, Brazil, Venezuela, Mauritius, Mongolia, and Sri Lanka. The difference between female and male youth literacy rates in this group of countries ranges from 5.2 percent in Nicaragua to 1.1 percent in Sri Lanka.

In 15 countries, the male youth literacy rate is 20 or more percent above the female youth literacy rate. These countries are, in descending order of the literacy gap: Chad (difference male-female literacy rate 32.5 percent), Afghanistan, Yemen, Niger, Benin, Guinea, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Central African Republic, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Angola, Nepal, Morocco, and Togo (difference 20.1 percent).

To download the latest national literacy rates, please visit the UIS Data Centre.

Related articles

• Disparity between adult and youth literacy
• Youth literacy rates
  
• Adult literacy rates
  
• Years of schooling and literacy: Can everyone with primary education read and write?
• Years of schooling and literacy, part 2
• UNESCO releases data from 2006 education survey
• Trends in primary school enrollment, 1970-2004
  

External links

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
• UIS Data Centre
• UIS literacy statistics
• Millennium Development Goals
  

Friedrich Huebler, 5 August 2007 (edited 17 October 2008), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/08/disparity-between-male-and-female.html

UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2007

In June 2007, the United Nations published the latest edition of its annual report on progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The Millennium Development Goals Report 2007 presents data for each of the eight MDGs.

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

In the section on MDG 2, the achievement of universal primary education, the report shows trends in primary school enrollment from 1991 to 2005. The statistics are presented by MDG region. One region, the Commonwealth of Independent States, is further divided into countries in Europe and Asia.

Primary school net enrollment rate, 1991-2005

Source: United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2007, page 10.

Seven regions have reached primary school net enrollment rates at or above 90 percent: Commonwealth of Independent States (Europe and Asia), Eastern Asia, South-Eastern Asia, Southern Asia, Western Asia, Northern Africa, and Latin America. Western Asia is slightly behind with a primary NER of 86 percent, followed by Oceania at 78 percent.

Sub-Saharan Africa has made the most progress over the past years, with a 13 percent increase in the primary NER from 57 percent in 1999 to 70 percent in 2005. Still, three out of ten children of primary school age in Sub-Saharan Africa are not enrolled in primary school. In all developing regions combined, the primary NER rose from 80 percent in 1991 to 88 percent in 2005.

Related articles

• Global trends in primary and secondary education, 2000-2004
• Trends in primary school enrollment, 1970-2004
• Millennium Development Goal regions and UNICEF regions
• UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2008

External links

• Millennium Development Goals Report 2007 (PDF, 882 KB)
• UN Millennium Development Goals

Friedrich Huebler, 29 July 2007 (edited 17 October 2008), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/07/un-millennium-development-goals-report.html

Disparity between adult and youth literacy

Two recent articles on this web site present the latest data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) on adult literacy and youth literacy worldwide. The adult literacy rate refers to the population aged 15 years and over, the youth literacy rate to the population aged 15 to 24 years. Youth literacy is generally higher than adult literacy, due to increasing levels of school attendance over the past decades.

The scatter plot in Figure 1 compares adult and youth literacy in 133 countries with data. The adult literacy rate is plotted along the horizontal axis and the youth literacy rate along the vertical axis. Almost all countries are located above the 45 degree line in the graph, which means that youth literacy is higher than adult literacy. Countries with no difference between the two literacy rates are located along the 45 degree line.

Figure 1: Adult and youth literacy: all countries with data

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, June 2007.

Many countries are located close together in the upper right corner of Figure 1. To show the distribution in that part of the graph more clearly, Figure 2 plots only the 87 countries with literacy rates above 80 percent. Because of the scale, the difference between adult and youth literacy is exaggerated compared to Figure 1. The shape and color of the markers in both graphs indicate the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) region in which each country is located. The lowest literacy rates, below 60 percent, are reported for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.

As Figure 2 shows, some countries from Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia have highly literate populations, with literacy rates above 80 or 90 percent. Other countries with high literacy rates are located in Latin America and the Caribbean, Western Asia, South-eastern Asia, and the other MDG regions. Developed countries and countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States are clustered in the upper right corner of Figure 2, near 100 percent adult and youth literacy.

Figure 2: Adult and youth literacy: countries with literacy rates above 80 percent

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, June 2007.

The average literacy rates in each MDG region are listed in Table 1. The mean literacy rates are simple unweighted averages across the countries with literacy data in a region and the values are therefore not representative for the entire population in each region.

Table 1 confirms the impression from Figure 1: adult and youth literacy rates are lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. In both regions, less than two thirds of the adult population are literate and the youth literacy rate is 10 to 12 percent higher than the adult literacy rate. In Western Asia, the youth literacy rate is also 10 percent above the adult literacy rate, but with an adult literacy rate of 85 percent, many more people can read and write than in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.

The difference between the two literacy rates is greatest in Northern Africa, where 88 percent of the population aged 15 to 24 years are literate, compared to 70 percent of the population aged 15 years or more. Based on the available data, smaller gaps between adult and youth literacy exist in Eastern Asia, South-eastern Asia, Oceania, and Latin America and the Caribbean. In the developed countries and in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, nearly the entire adult population is literate.

Table 1: Adult and youth literacy by MDG region

MDG region	Countries with data in region	Adult literacy rate (%)	Youth literacy rate (%)	Difference youth-adult literacy rate (%)
Developed countries	16	97.1	99.1	2.1
Commonwealth of Independent States	10	99.2	99.8	0.6
Eastern Asia	3	93.3	98.7	5.4
South-eastern Asia	10	86.9	93.7	6.8
Oceania	4	82.2	88.4	3.5
Southern Asia	8	63.1	75.1	12.0
Western Asia	14	85.1	94.8	9.8
Northern Africa	5	70.4	87.6	17.2
Sub-Saharan Africa	42	61.5	71.1	10.3
Latin America and the Caribbean	25	89.1	94.8	5.3
World	137	79.4	87.0	7.5

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, June 2007. Regional averages are unweighted. 137 countries have data on adult literacy, 133 countries have data on youth literacy.

Please visit the UIS Data Centre to download complete tables with national data on adult and youth literacy.

Related articles

• Youth literacy rates
  
• Adult literacy rates
  
• Years of schooling and literacy: Can everyone with primary education read and write?
• Years of schooling and literacy, part 2
• UNESCO releases data from 2006 education survey
• Millennium Development Goal regions and UNICEF regions

External links

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
• UIS Data Centre
• UIS literacy statistics

Friedrich Huebler, 22 July 2007 (edited 17 October 2008), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/07/disparity-between-adult-and-youth.html

Youth literacy rates

Last week, I posted an article on adult literacy with the latest statistics from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). Today's article will look at the latest statistics on youth literacy. The youth literacy rate is the share of the population aged 15 to 24 years that is literate.

UNESCO provides national data on youth literacy for 133 countries. This compares to 137 countries for which the adult literacy rate is known. The youth literacy rate is usually higher than the adult literacy rate, especially in developing countries where the education system has expanded over the past decades. In a country where school attendance rates increase over time, persons born in a later year are more likely to attend school and to become literate.

The map below displays the youth literacy rate for each country with data, ranging from 24.2 percent in Mali to 100 percent in Cuba. Most industrialized countries have no data on youth literacy, but school attendance is almost universal in these countries and literacy rates are therefore also high.

Youth literacy rates by country

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, June 2007.

In Eastern Europe, East and Southeast Asia, and Latin America, youth literacy rates are generally 90 percent or higher. In some countries in Africa and the Middle East, youth literacy rates are also at or above 90 percent. Of 133 countries with data, 87 report youth literacy rates between 90 and 100 percent. 10 more countries have literacy rates between 80 and 90 percent.

In 5 countries, less than 40 percent of the population between 15 and 24 years are literate: Mali (youth literacy rate 24.2 percent), Burkina Faso (33.0), Afghanistan (34.3), Niger (36.5), and Chad (37.6). In 8 countries, the youth literacy rate is between 40 and 60 percent: Benin (45.3), Guinea (46.6), Mozambique (47.0), Sierra Leone (47.9), Senegal (49.1), Ethiopia (49.9), Madagascar (57.6), and the Central African Republic (58.5). In the remaining 23 countries, the youth literacy is between 60 and 80 percent.

The complete set of youth and adult literacy statistics is available at the UIS Data Centre.

Related articles

• Disparity between adult and youth literacy
• Adult literacy rates
  
• Years of schooling and literacy: Can everyone with primary education read and write?
• Years of schooling and literacy, part 2
• UNESCO releases data from 2006 education survey

External links

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
• UIS Data Centre
• UIS literacy statistics

Friedrich Huebler, 15 July 2007 (edited 22 July 2007), Creative Commons License
Permanent link: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/07/youth-literacy-rates.html

Adult literacy rates

In June 2007, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) released its latest literacy statistics, covering the years 1985 to 2005. In a change from literacy statistics released in previous years, UIS only reports on observed literacy and no longer uses proxy variables like educational attainment. The UIS database contains two sets of literacy rates:

• Youth literacy rate: the share of the population aged 15 to 24 years that is literate.
• Adult literacy rate: the share of the population aged 15 years and older that is literate.

Both literacy rates are reported at the national and regional level. The adult literacy rate is available for 137 countries, shown in the map below. It ranges from 23.6 percent in Burkina Faso to 99.8 percent in Cuba. For 71 countries, the adult literacy rate is unknown but most of these countries are industrialized and literacy can therefore be assumed to be at a high level.

Adult literacy rates by country

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, June 2007.

Among countries with data, the highest literacy rates are observed in Eastern Europe, East and Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Virtually all countries in these regions have literacy rates above 80 percent. Some countries in Africa also report adult literacy rates at such a high level. In 57 countries worldwide, more than 90 percent of the adult population are literate. 31 countries have literacy rates between 80 and 90 percent.

The lowest literacy rates are observed in Africa and South Asia. In 6 countries, fewer than 3 out of 10 adults are literate: Burkina Faso (adult literacy rate 23.6 percent), Mali (24.0), Chad (24.7), Afghanistan (28.0), Niger (28.7), and Guinea (29.5). In 10 countries, the adult literacy rate is between 30 and 50 percent: Benin (34.7), Sierra Leone (34.8), Ethiopia (35.9), Mozambique (38.7), Senegal (39.3), Bangladesh (47.5), Central African Republic (48.6), Nepal (48.6), Cote d'Ivoire (48.7), and Pakistan (49.9).

In India, the second most populous country in the world, only 6 out of 10 adults are literate (literacy rate 61.0 percent). In China, the country with the largest population, many more people can read and write, with an adult literacy rate of 90.9 percent.

The complete set of literacy statistics is available at the UIS Data Centre.

Related articles

• Disparity between adult and youth literacy
• Youth literacy rates
• Years of schooling and literacy: Can everyone with primary education read and write?
• Years of schooling and literacy, part 2
• UNESCO releases data from 2006 education survey

External links

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
• UIS Data Centre
• UIS literacy statistics

Friedrich Huebler, 8 July 2007 (edited 22 July 2007), Creative Commons License
Permanent link: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/07/adult-literacy-rates.html

UNESCO releases data from 2006 education survey

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) has released the data from its 2006 survey of international education indicators. The database, available free of charge at the UIS Data Centre, contains annual data for 206 countries and territories from the years 1999 to 2006. For most countries, the latest available data is from the year 2005. The chart below presents the distribution of the latest national data for six indicators that are closely linked to the Millennium Development Goals on education.

Distribution of latest national data from UIS 2006 education survey

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, June 2007, stats.uis.unesco.org.

The primary school net enrollment rate is available for 177 countries. In 134 countries, the latest data is from 2005 and in 6 countries, the primary NER for 2006 is provided. For two indicators - the survival rate to the last grade of primary school and the transition rate from primary to secondary school - the latest available data for most countries is from 2004. To calculate these two indicators, data from two consecutive years is needed. As an example, to calculate the transition rate from primary to secondary school in the year 2005, data from 2005 and 2006 is required. For this reason, the most recent data lags most other indicators by one year.

The secondary school net enrollment rate is only known for 153 of 206 countries and territories, and in 109 countries the latest data is from 2005. The school life expectancy from primary to tertiary school is provided for 190 countries, and the pupil/teacher ratio in primary school for 193 countries. As with most other indicators, the latest available data is from the year 2005 for the majority of countries.

The release of the data from the 2006 education survey follows the launch of the new UIS Data Centre in June 2007. This online database provides access to pre-defined statistical tables and to customizable tables with a choice of countries, regions and indicators. The UIS Data Centre contains data for more than 1000 types of indicators in the areas of education, science and technology, culture and communication.

Related articles

• Final release of data from UNESCO's 2005 education survey
• Global Education Digest 2006
• Global Education Digest 2005

External links

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
• UIS Data Centre
• United Nations Millennium Development Goals

Friedrich Huebler, 30 June 2007 (edited 15 July 2007), Creative Commons License
Permanent link: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/06/unesco-releases-data-from-2006.html

Caste, ethnicity, and school attendance in Nepal

The education system in Nepal is characterized by large disparities in primary and secondary school attendance. School attendance rates are higher among boys, residents of urban areas, and children from wealthier households. These disparities are described in the article Primary and secondary school attendance in Nepal.

In Nepal, disparities are also closely linked to the Hindu caste system that divides the population into dozens of hereditary groups. At the top of the social order are members of the Brahman class of priests and scholars, followed by the Kshatriya (rulers and warriors), the Vaishya (merchants), and the Sudra (peasants and manual laborers). The lowest position in the social order is occupied by the Dalits, also referred to as "untouchables." For example, Dalits may not enter temples or fetch water from wells that are also used by members of higher castes. Although caste-based discrimination was outlawed in Nepal in 1963 it is still present in Nepali society.

Social exclusion based on caste is interlinked with exclusion based on ethnicity and religion. Members of the indigenous population of Nepal, called Janajatis, were historically ranked between the highest and lowest castes. Muslims were discriminated by virtue of belonging to a religious minority in a Hindu state and ranked above Dalits but below other groups.

The 2001 census in Nepal identified 103 social groups based on caste, ethnicity, religion, and language. Caste groups accounted for 57.5 percent of the population, Janajatis for 37.2 percent, religious minorities for 4.3 percent, and other groups for the remaining 1 percent. This large number of social groups makes it difficult to analyze patterns of exclusion. To simplify such an analysis, a recent multi-year Gender and Social Exclusion Assesssment (GSEA) by the British Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Bank, in collaboration with the National Planning Commission of Nepal, combined the 103 social groups in 10 major categories. The results of the GSEA were published in 2006 in the report Unequal citizens: Gender, caste and ethnic exclusion in Nepal. Table 1 provides an overview of the simplified caste and ethnic groups from the GSEA.

Table 1: Caste and ethnic groups in Nepal

Share of population	Simplified group	2001 census group
Hindu caste groups (57.5%)	1. Brahmans and Chhetris (Hill)	Brahman, Chhetri, Thakuri, Sanyasi
	2. Brahmans and Chhetris (Tarai)	Kayashta, Rajput, Baniya, Marwadi, Jaine, Nurang, Bengali
	3. Tarai Middle Castes	Yadev,Teli, Kalwar, Sudi, Sonar, Lohar, Koiri, Kurmi, Kanu, Haluwai, Hajam/Thakur, Badhe, Rajbhar, Kewat Mallah, Numhar, Kahar, Lodha, Bing/Banda, Bhediyar, Mali, Kamar Dhunia
	4. Dalits (Hill)	Kami, Damai, Sarki, Gaine, Badi
	5. Dalits (Tarai)	Chamar, Musahar, Tatma, Bantar, Dhusadadh/Paswan, Khatway, Dom, Chidimar, Dhobi, Halkhor, Unidentified Dalit
Janajatis (37.2%)	6. Newar	All Newari Castes
	7. Janajatis (Hill)	Magar,Tamang, Rai, Gurung, Limbu, Sherpa, Bhote, Walung, Buansi, Hyolmo, Gharti/Bhujel, Kumal, Sunuwar, Baramu, Pahari, Adivasi Janajati, Yakkha, Shantal, Jirel, Darai, Dura, Majhi, Dunuwar, Thami, Lepcha, Chepang, Bote, Raji, Hayu,Raute, Kasunda
	8. Janajatis (Tarai)	Tharu, Dhanuk, Rajbanshi, Tajpuriya, Gangai, Dhimal, Meche, Kisan, Munda, Santhal/Satar/Dhangad/Jhangad, Koche, Pattarkatta/Kusbadiya
Muslims (4.3%)	9. Muslims	Muslim, Churoute
Others (1%)	10. Others

Source: World Bank, and Department For International Development (DFID). 2006. Unequal citizens: Gender, caste and ethnic exclusion in Nepal - Summary. Kathmandu: World Bank, Department For International Development. Table 1, page 17.

Three groups - Brahmans and Chhetris, Dalits, and Janajatis - are further divided by geographic region. About 49 percent of the population of Nepal live in the southern tarai or terai region, the most fertile area of Nepal. 44 percent of the population live in the central hill zone that includes the capital Kathmandu. The mountain region of northern Nepal is home to only 7 percent of the population.

The composition of the population of Nepal by simplified caste and ethnic group, according to the 2001 census, is shown in Figure 1. Hill Brahman and Chhetri account for 30.9 percent of the population. The second largest group are Hill Janajatis, with 23.0 percent of the population. 12.9 percent of the population are in Tarai Middle Castes. Each of the remaining seven caste and ethnic groups account for less than 10 percent of the population.

Figure 1: Distribution of caste and ethnic groups in Nepal

Source: World Bank, and Department For International Development (DFID). 2006. Unequal citizens: Gender, caste and ethnic exclusion in Nepal - Summary. Kathmandu: World Bank, Department For International Development. Figure 6, page 18.

The simplified caste and ethnic groups created by the Nepal Gender and Social Exclusion Assessment can be used to reveal disparities in the education system that go beyond characteristics like gender and household wealth (see the article Primary and secondary school attendance in Nepal on this site).

Figure 2 shows the primary school net attendance rate (NAR) - the share of children of primary school age who attend primary school - by caste or ethnicity of the household head. The data on school attendance is from a 2001 Demographic and Health Survey, a nationally representative household survey.

At the level of the country as a whole, the primary school NAR is 73.5 percent. Children from Brahman, Chhetri, and Newar households have the highest NAR values, between 86.8 and 93 percent. The lowest primary school net attendance rates are observed among Muslims (32.1 percent) and Tarai Dalits (37.5 percent). Hill Dalits (primary NAR 73.5 percent) are much more likely to attend school than Tarai Dalits. This difference in school participation can be explained by the fact that Dalits from the hill zone of Nepal are more integrated into society and therefore less subject to discrimination than Dalits from the southern tarai.

Figure 2: Primary school attendance in Nepal by caste or ethnic group of household head

Source: Nepal 2001 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS).

Secondary school net attendance rates in Nepal are shown in Figure 3. Overall, 30.9 percent of all Nepali children of secondary school age attend secondary school. The pattern of disparity is similar to that at the primary level of the education system. NAR values are highest among children from Newar, Brahman, and Chhetri households, ranging from 44.6 to 52.3 percent. Tarai Dalits (secondary NAR 7.2 percent) and Muslims (7.9 percent) are least likely to attend secondary school. Similar to the primary level, Hill Dalits have a net attendance rate that is twice as high as that of Tarai Dalits.

Figure 3: Secondary school attendance in Nepal by caste or ethnic group of household head

Source: Nepal 2001 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS).

In a diverse society like Nepal, an analysis of school attendance by caste and ethnicity helps policy makers identify groups that are lagging behind other parts of the population. To build an equitable and inclusive society, and to reach the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education, it is necessary to design policies that aid Muslims, Tarai Dalits, and other disadvantaged groups in Nepal.

References

• Geiser, Alexandra. 2005. Social exclusion and conflict transformation in Nepal: Women, dalit and ethnic groups. Bern: Swiss Peace Foundation. (Download PDF, 745 KB)
• World Bank, and Department For International Development (DFID). 2006. Unequal citizens: Gender, caste and ethnic exclusion in Nepal - Summary. Kathmandu: World Bank, Department For International Development. (Download PDF, 14.5 MB)

Related articles

• Primary and secondary school attendance in Nepal
  
• Nepal: trends in primary education, 1980-2004
• Education disparity in South Asia
• Education disparity trends in South Asia
• Disparities in primary school attendance by ethnicity, language or religion
• Education data from household surveys

External links

• United Nations Millennium Development Goals
• Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)
• UK Department for International Development (DFID)
• World Bank

Friedrich Huebler, 28 May 2007 (edited 1 March 2009), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/05/caste-ethnicity-and-school-attendance.html