Regional distribution of children in and out of school

In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 4 calls for "inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all". The first of the 10 targets within SDG 4 is: "By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes". The SDGs are the successor to the Millennium Development Goals that were adopted by the United Nations in 2000 and called, among other things, for universal primary education by 2015.

Data by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) show that the education MDG has not been met. 124 million children of primary and lower secondary school age were still out of school in 2013, the latest year for which reliable estimates are available. Among children of primary school age, the global out-of-school rate was 9%. Among adolescents of lower secondary school age, the global out-of-school rate was 17%. School ages vary from country to country but on average the official primary school age is 6 to 11 years and the lower secondary school age 12 to 15 years.

The global numbers hide large regional disparities. Figures 1, 2 and 3 show the distribution of the global school-age population in 2013 according to the regional classification used by UNESCO. UNESCO regions are virtually identical to the regions used for monitoring of the Education for All goals.

Figure 1 shows the number of children of primary school age by region. The number of children is plotted against the horizontal axis. For example, 176 million primary-age children lived in South and West Asia in 2013, 158 million in East Asia and the Pacific, and 147 million in sub-Saharan Africa. The global number of children of primary school age was 660 million in 2013. The proportion of children within each region who were in school or out of school is plotted against the vertical axis and the regions are arranged in order of the out-of-school rate. The numbers on the blue and red areas indicate the regional number of children in and out of school. For example, of the 147 million children in sub-Saharan Africa, 20% or 30 million were out of school, a higher percentage than in any other region; 80% or 117 million were in school. The Arab States were the region with the second highest out-of-school rate (12%). The region with the lowest out-of-school rate was Central and Eastern Europe, where 4% or 0.7 million of the 18.6 million children of primary school age were out of school in 2013.

Figure 1: Children of primary school age in and out of school, by region, 2013

Abbreviations: CA Central Asia, CEE Central and Eastern Europe, LAC Latin America and the Caribbean, NAWE North America and Western Europe.
Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Figure 2 shows the regional distribution of adolescents of lower secondary school age in 2013. Of the 374 million lower-secondary-age adolescents globally, 102.3 million lived in South and West Asia, 91 million in East Asia and the Pacific, and 66 million in sub-Saharan Africa. The global population of lower secondary school age is smaller than the population of primary school age but lower secondary out-of-school rates were much higher in 2013 than primary out-of-school rates. Sub-Saharan Africa was the region with the highest lower secondary out-of-school rate (34%), followed by South and West Asia (26%) and the Arab States (17%). Whereas sub-Saharan Africa had the highest number of primary-age children out of school, South and West Asia was the region with the largest number of out-of-school adolescents of lower secondary age (26 million), followed by sub-Saharan Africa (23 million).

Figure 2: Children of lower secondary school age in and out of school, by region, 2013

Abbreviations: CA Central Asia, CEE Central and Eastern Europe, LAC Latin America and the Caribbean, NAWE North America and Western Europe.
Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Lastly, Figure 3 shows the regional distribution of the population of primary and lower secondary school age combined. The global school-age population was greater than 1 billion in 2013. Of that number, 241 million lived in South and West Asia, 235 million in East Asia and the Pacific, and 160 million in sub-Saharan Africa. The combined out-of-school rate for children and adolescents of primary and lower secondary school age was 12% at the global level. The regions with the highest out-of-school rates were sub-Saharan Africa (25%), the Arab States (14%), and South and West Asia (13%). The lowest out-of-school rates (4%) were observed in North America and Western Europe, and in Central and Eastern Europe. In absolute terms, the regions with the largest out-of-school populations in 2013 were sub-Saharan Africa (53 million), South and West Asia (37 million), and East Asia and the Pacific (14 million).

Figure 3: Children of primary and lower secondary school age in and out of school, by region, 2013

Abbreviations: CA Central Asia, CEE Central and Eastern Europe, LAC Latin America and the Caribbean, NAWE North America and Western Europe.
Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

External links

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• SDG 4: Quality education for all
• Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
• UIS Data Centre
• Announcement of out-of-school estimates for 2013 by the UIS
• Fact sheet "A growing number of children and adolescents are out of school as aid fails to meet the mark" (PDF, 424 KB)

Related articles

• 124 million out-of-school children in 2013
• Global report on out-of-school children
• Out-of-school children and adolescents, 2000-2012
• 61 million out-of-school children in 2010
• Children of primary and secondary school age out of school
• Children out of school: Global trend 1999-2008
• Trends in primary school enrollment, 1970-2004
• Universal primary education by 2015: A goal out of reach?
• Global population of primary school age, 2000-2015
• Population structure and children out of school
• National wealth and school enrollment
• Survival rate to the last grade of primary school
• Transition from primary to secondary education
• Regional disparities in school life expectancy
• Education for All regions

Friedrich Huebler, 28 February 2016, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2016/02/oos.html

124 million out-of-school children in 2013

New estimates by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) show that approximately 124 million children and adolescents were out of school in 2013. Of this number, 59 million were of primary school age and 65 million were of lower secondary school age. The entrance ages and durations of primary and lower secondary education vary between countries, but primary school age is typically 6-11 years and lower secondary school age is typically 12-15 years.

The estimate for 2013 represents a decrease by 72 million from 2000, when about 196 million children and adolescents were out of school (see Figure 1). Most of this decrease occurred between 2000 and 2007 but since 2007 there has been hardly any progress in reducing the global out-of-school population. In the most recent period there was even a slight increase in the number of out-of-school children and adolescents.

Figure 1: Global number of out-of-school children, 2000-2013

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

The primary and lower secondary out-of-school rates in 2013 - the percentage of children in these age groups who were not enrolled in primary or secondary education - were 9% and 17%, respectively (see Figure 2). Adolescents of lower secondary school age were thus nearly twice as likely to be out of school as children of primary school age. For the combined population of primary and lower secondary age the out-of-school rate was 12% in 2013.

The trend in the out-of-school rate mirrors the evolution of the number of out-of-school children and adolescents. In 2000, the primary out-of-school rate was 15% and the lower secondary out-of-school rate was 25%. Like the number of out-of-school children, the out-of-school rate fell steadily until 2007 and has remained at nearly the same level since then.

In spite of the lack of progress towards lower out-of-school rates and numbers in recent years, the gap between boys and girls has continued to decrease. At the global level, girls are still more likely to be out of school than boys but the difference between the female and male out-of-school rates fell between 2000 and 2013 from 6 percentage points to 2 percentage points for primary-age children and from 5 percentage points to 1 percentage point for lower-secondary-age adolescents.

Figure 2: Global rate of out-of-school children, 2000-2013

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Because of the lag between the collection of national enrollment figures and the release of global out-of-school estimates by the UIS the number of out-of-school children and adolescents in 2015 is not yet known. Nevertheless, it is already clear that the Education for All goal and Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015 cannot be reached.

A joint fact sheet by the UIS and the Education for All Global Monitoring Report contains more detailed analysis of the most recent out-of-school data and explains that current international aid for primary and secondary education is insufficient, especially for the world's poorest countries.

External links

• Announcement of out-of-school estimates for 2013 by the UIS
• Fact sheet "A growing number of children and adolescents are out of school as aid fails to meet the mark" (PDF, 424 KB)
• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
• UIS Data Centre
• Education for All Global Monitoring Report (EFA GMR)
• Education for All goals
• Millennium Development Goals

Related articles

• Global report on out-of-school children
• Out-of-school children and adolescents, 2000-2012
• 61 million out-of-school children in 2010
• Children of primary and secondary school age out of school
• Children out of school: Global trend 1999-2008
• Trends in primary school enrollment, 1970-2004
• Universal primary education by 2015: A goal out of reach?
• Global population of primary school age, 2000-2015
• Population structure and children out of school
• National wealth and school enrollment
• Survival rate to the last grade of primary school
• Transition from primary to secondary education
• Regional disparities in school life expectancy

Friedrich Huebler, 20 July 2015, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2015/07/oos.html

EFA Global Monitoring Report 2015

The Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2015 was published by UNESCO on 9 April 2015. The title of this year's edition of the EFA GMR is Education for All 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges”.

2015 is the target year for the six Education for All goals, as well as the eight Millennium Development Goals. The GMR takes stock of progress since 2000 and points out that in spite of substantial improvement in all areas of education many countries are likely to miss one or more of the EFA goals. The reference year for the report is 2012, the most recent year with data for most countries and regions at the time the report was prepared, but the GMR also makes some use of projections.

• Goal 1: Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children: 47% of countries reached the goal but 20% of countries are very far from the goal.
• Goal 2: Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality: 52% of countries achieved this goal, 38% of countries are far from the goal.
• Goal 3: Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes: 47% of countries have reached universal lower secondary enrolment.
• Goal 4: Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults: Only 25% of countries reached this goal, 32% of countries are very far from the goal.
• Goal 5: Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality: The GMR estimates that 69% of countries will achieve gender parity in primary education by 2015, and 48% of countries will reach the goal in secondary education.
• Goal 6: Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills: The pupil-teacher ratio fell in 121 of 146 countries between 1990 and 2012 but there are still not enough teachers for all children in and out of school.

The GMR also presents important lessons for international goals in the area of education for the post-2015 period.

Reference

• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 2015. Education for All 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges - EFA Global Monitoring Report 2015. Paris: UNESCO. Download in PDF format (6.8 MB).

External links

• EFA Global Monitoring Report 2015 (official site)
• EFA Global Monitoring Reports (archive with all reports published since 2002)
• Education for All goals
• UNESCO
• Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Related articles

• EFA Global Monitoring Report 2013/4
• EFA Global Monitoring Report 2012
• EFA Global Monitoring Report 2011
• EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010
• EFA Global Monitoring Report 2009
• EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008

Friedrich Huebler, 25 April 2015, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2015/04/gmr.html

Global report on out-of-school children

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and UNICEF have jointly published a new report, Fixing the Broken Promise of Education for All: Findings from the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children. The report, launched at the Education World Forum in London on 19 January 2015, presents the latest global statistics on out-of-school children, examines the barriers faced by marginalized groups and proposes policy solutions, and estimates the cost of universal basic education.

The report draws attention to the fact that the world will miss the Education for All goal and Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015. 58 million children of primary school age (typically 6 to 11 years) and 63 million adolescents of lower secondary school age (typically 12 to 15 years) are still out of school and many of them will never set foot in a classroom. Although the numbers of out-of-school children and adolescents are similar, in relative terms lower-secondary-age adolescents are twice as likely to be out of school as primary-age children, with out-of-school rates of 17% and 9% respectively.

The report draws on findings from the joint UIS-UNICEF Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children (OOSCI). This initiative began in 2010 and has led to the publication of a series of national and regional studies on out-of-school children. OOSCI, which is also supported by the Global Partnership for Education and Understanding Children's Work, has three overarching goals:

1. Develop comprehensive profiles of excluded children using consistent and innovative statistical methods.
2. Link these profiles to the barriers that lead to exclusion.
3. Identify, promote and implement sound policies that address exclusion.

To accompany the publication of the global report, the UIS released an interactive data visualization that illustrates the multiple and overlapping causes of exclusion from education with household survey data from more than 20 countries.

Screenshot of UIS data visualization on out-of-school children

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Reference

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). 2015. Fixing the Broken Promise of Education for All: Findings from the Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children. Montreal: UIS. Download in PDF format (6.4 MB).

External links

• Announcement of report on UIS website
• Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children (OOSCI)
• National and regional OOSCI reports
• UIS data visualization on out-of-school children: English, French, Spanish
• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
• UNICEF
• Global Partnership for Education
• Understanding Children's Work
• Education World Forum
• Education for All goals
• Millennium Development Goals

Related articles

• Out-of-school children and adolescents, 2000-2012
• 61 million out-of-school children in 2010
• Children of primary and secondary school age out of school
• Children out of school: Global trend 1999-2008
• Trends in primary school enrollment, 1970-2004
• Universal primary education by 2015: A goal out of reach?
• Global population of primary school age, 2000-2015
• Population structure and children out of school
• National wealth and school enrollment
• Survival rate to the last grade of primary school
• Transition from primary to secondary education
• Regional disparities in school life expectancy
• School attendance among 5- to 24-year-olds in Liberia

Friedrich Huebler, 31 January 2015, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2015/01/oosc.html

Out-of-school children and adolescents, 2000-2012

The Education for All goal and Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015 is the most prominent international goal in the field of education. Over the past years it has become increasingly apparent that the world will not reach this goal by the target year. New statistics, released by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics on 26 June, confirm that the number of out-of-school children has remained at nearly the same level since 2007.

In 2012, the latest year with data, an estimated 58 million children of primary school age (typically between 6 and 11 years) were out of school, representing 9% of the global population in this age group. Between 2000 and 2007, the global number of out-of-school children fell from 100 million to 60 million in 2007, but since then there has been virtually no progress towards universal primary education (see Figure 1).

30 million out-of-school children, more than half of the global total in 2012, lived in sub-Saharan Africa. A further 10 million lived in South and West Asia, a reduction by more than two thirds from the 34 million out-of-school children in this region in 2000. 18 million children of primary school age were out of school in the remaining regions in 2012.

Girls account for the majority (53%) of the global out-of-school population, mainly due to gender disparities in sub-Saharan Africa, where 13 million boys and nearly 17 million girls were not in school in 2012.

Figure 1: Out-of-school children of primary school age, 2000-2012

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, June 2014.

In addition to the 58 million out-of-school children of primary school age, 63 million adolescents of lower secondary school age were not in school in 2012. This number is equivalent to 17% of the global population of lower secondary school age, typically between 12 and 15 years. In 2000, the global number of out-of-school adolescents was 97 million. Similar to the number of out-of-school children of primary school age, the number of out-of-school adolescents of lower secondary school age decreased steadily between 2000 and 2007, but since then progress has been much slower (see Figure 2).

South and West Asia had the largest number of out-of-school adolescents in 2012, 26 million, followed by sub-Saharan Africa with 21 million and the rest of the world with 15 million. In contrast to the gender disparity observed among the out-of-school population of primary school age, the global population of out-of-school adolescents in 2012 was 50% male and 50% female.

Figure 2: Out-of-school adolescents of lower secondary school age, 2000-2012

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, June 2014.

For additional information on out-of-school children and adolescents, read the policy paper Progress in getting all children to school stalls but some countries show the way forward, published jointly by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the Education for All Global Monitoring Report in June 2014.

External links

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
• Education for All Global Monitoring Report (EFA GMR)
• Announcement of new out-of-school figures on UIS website
• Announcement of new out-of-school figures on World Education Blog by EFA GMR
• UIS/EFA GMR policy paper Progress in getting all children to school stalls but some countries show the way forward (PDF): English, French, Spanish
• Education for All (EFA) goals (UNESCO)
• Millennium Development Goals (United Nations)

Related articles

• 61 million out-of-school children in 2010
• Children of primary and secondary school age out of school
• Children out of school: Global trend 1999-2008
• Trends in primary school enrollment, 1970-2004
• Universal primary education by 2015: A goal out of reach?
• Global population of primary school age, 2000-2015
• Population structure and children out of school
• National wealth and school enrollment
• Survival rate to the last grade of primary school
• Transition from primary to secondary education
• Regional disparities in school life expectancy
• School attendance among 5- to 24-year-olds in Liberia

Friedrich Huebler, 30 June 2014, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2014/06/oos.html

National, regional and global literacy trends, 1985-2015

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) has released a new report on literacy (UIS 2013). The report, Adult and Youth Literacy: National, Regional and Global Trends, 1985-2015, contains a comprehensive overview of literacy data for 151 countries and territories from seven regions: Arab States, Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and Western Europe, South and West Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. A summary of the most recent literacy rates and estimates of the illiterate population is accompanied by historical data for the period since 1985 and projections to 2015, the target year of Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals.

The table and figure below present adult literacy rates, for the population 25 years and older, at the regional and global level between 1990 and 2015. In spite of persistent illiteracy in some parts of the world - see the article "Adult and youth literacy in 2011" - the adult literacy rate has increased in all regions since 1990. The global adult literacy rate grew from 76% in 1990 to 82% in 2000 and 84% in 2011, the most recent year with data. (In the report, 1990 data refer to the period 1985-1994, 2000 data to the period 1995-2004, and 2011 data to the period 2005-2011.)

Progress at the regional level has varied. In three regions - Arab States, South and West Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa - approximately half of all adults were illiterate in 1990. In the Arab States, the adult literacy rate increased by 22% between 1990 and 2011. In South and West Asia, the adult literacy rate increased by 16% over the same period. In sub-Saharan Africa, progress was much more modest, with an increase in the adult literacy rate of only 6%. East Asia and the Pacific is approaching universal adult literacy, and Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia were already near universal literacy in 1990. No regionally representative data are available for North America and Western Europe.

Adult literacy rate (population 25 years and older) by region, 1990-2015

Region	Adult literacy rate (%)
	1990	2000	2011	2015 projection	2015 target
Arab States	55.2	67.5	76.9	79.2	83.8
Central and Eastern Europe	96.0	97.4	98.5	98.0	98.7
Central Asia	97.9	99.0	99.5	99.6	99.5
East Asia and the Pacific	81.9	94.5	94.7	95.8	95.8
Latin America and the Caribbean	85.7	89.7	91.6	92.8	94.9
North America and Western Europe	-	-	-	-	-
South and West Asia	46.7	58.9	62.8	70.4	79.5
Sub-Saharan Africa	53.2	57.2	59.1	63.6	78.6
World	75.7	81.9	84.1	86.1	91.0

Note: 1990 data are for the period 1985-1994, 2000 data are for 1995-2004, 2011 data are for 2005-2011.
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2013. "Adult and Youth Literacy: National, Regional and Global Trends, 1985-2015". UIS information paper. Montreal: UIS. http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/literacy-statistics-trends-1985-2015.pdf.

The EFA goals, adopted at the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000, call for a "50% improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015" (UNESCO 2005). For monitoring, this goal is typically interpreted to mean a reduction of the adult illiteracy rate by 50% between 2000 and 2015. EFA goals were set for countries, not regions, but for the analysis in the UIS report, target values were also calculated at the regional and global levels. At the global level, for example, halving adult illiteracy between 2000 and 2015 implies a target adult literacy rate of 91% for the year 2015.

Adult literacy rates are projected to increase in almost all regions between 2011 and 2015. The exception is Central and Eastern Europe, where projections indicate a small drop in adult literacy. The global adult literacy rate is projected to reach 86% in 2015, meaning that the target literacy rate would be missed by 5%. As the figure below shows, sub-Saharan Africa is projected to be furthest from the 2015 target, with an estimated adult literacy rate of 64%, 15% below the target of 79%. South and West Asia is projected to reach an adult literacy rate of 70% in 2015, 9% below the target for 2015. Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and East Asia and the Pacific are projected to reach or come within one percentage point of the 2015 target.

Adult literacy rate (population 25 years and older) by region, 1990-2015

Notes: (1) Regions sorted by the projected literacy rate of the adult population in 2015. (2) 1990 data are for the period 1985-1994, 2000 data are for 1995-2004, 2011 data are for 2005-2011.
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2013. "Adult and Youth Literacy: National, Regional and Global Trends, 1985-2015". UIS information paper. Montreal: UIS. http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/literacy-statistics-trends-1985-2015.pdf.

The UIS report contains more detailed information on adult literacy rates and the adult illiterate population, youth literacy rates (for the population 15-24 years) and the youth illiterate population, historical trends and projections to 2015, a summary of UIS methodology in the area of literacy, and an annex with six statistical tables and 151 figures with national literacy data.

References

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2013. "Adult and Youth Literacy: National, Regional and Global Trends, 1985-2015". UIS information paper. Montreal: UIS. http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/literacy-statistics-trends-1985-2015.pdf (940 KB).
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 2005. Education for All: Literacy for Life - EFA Global Monitoring Report 2006. Paris: UNESCO. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001416/141639e.pdf (7 MB).

Related articles

• Adult and youth literacy in 2011
• Trends in adult literacy, 1990-2008
• Disparity between male and female literacy rates
• Disparity between adult and youth literacy
• Years of schooling and literacy: Can everyone with primary education read and write?
• Years of schooling and literacy, part 2
• Adult literacy in sub-Saharan Africa

External links

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
• UIS Data Centre
• International Literacy Day (8 September)
• UIS page for International Literacy Day 2013, with interactive world map with adult and youth literacy rates
• Education for All (EFA) (UNESCO)
• Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (UN Development Programme)

Friedrich Huebler, 27 October 2013, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2013/10/literacy.html

61 million out-of-school children in 2010

61 million children of primary school age were out of school in 2010, down from a high of over 110 million out-of-school children in the mid-1990s, according to new estimates by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 32 million or 53% of the 61 million out-of-school children were girls.

The trend in out-of-school numbers since 1990 is illustrated in Figure 1. Much of the global progress over the past 15 years is due to developments in South and West Asia, where the number of out-of-school children fell from a high of 41 million in 1998 to 13 million in 2010.

Progress in sub-Saharan Africa, another region with a historically large number of out-of-school children, has been much more modest, by comparison. Here, the number of children out of school decreased from a high of 43 million in 1996 to 31 million in 2010. As a result, sub-Saharan Africa today is home to half of all out-of-school children worldwide.

In relative terms, the global out-of-school rate fell from 18% in the early 1990s to 9% in 2010, in spite of a large increase in the number of children of primary school age over the same period. However, the estimates by UIS also show that the out-of-school rate and the number of out-of-school children have stagnated over the past three years, partly because sub-Saharan Africa is struggling to increase enrolment rates in primary education while being confronted with continued strong population growth. At this rate, the world is unlikely to reach the Millennium Development Goal and Education for All goal of universal primary education by 2015.

Figure 1: Global number of out-of-school children of primary school age, by region and sex, 1990-2010

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, July 2012. - Click image to enlarge.

The regional distribution of children in and out of school is illustrated in Figure 2. The width of each region in the graph indicates the size of the population of primary school age. The height of the bars indicates which proportion of children in each region is in or out of school.

In absolute terms, Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of children out of school (31 million), although its primary school-age population (132 million) is smaller than that of two other regions: South and West Asia, and East Asia and the Pacific. In relative terms, Sub-Saharan Africa also has the highest out-of-school rate of all regions. 23% of all primary school-age children have either never attended school or left school without completing primary education.

In South and West Asia, the proportion of out-of-school children (8%) is smaller than in sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab States, but in absolute terms, the region is home to 13 million out-of-school children, second only to sub-Saharan Africa. More than half of all out-of-school children in South and West Asia live in only two countries: India (2.3 million) and Pakistan (5.1 million).

East Asia and the Pacific has 168 million children of primary school age, nearly as many as South and West Asia, but only 4% are out of school. Still, due to the large primary school-age population in the region, this means that 7 million children are excluded from education.

The remaining regions have significantly fewer children out of school: Arab States (5.0 million), Latin America and the Caribbean (2.7 million), North America and Western Europe (1.3 million), Central and Eastern Europe (0.9 million), and Central Asia (0.3 million).

Figure 2: Global distribution of children of primary school age in and out of school, 2010

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, July 2012. - CA = Central Asia, CEE = Central and Eastern Europe, LAC = Latin America and the Caribbean, NAWE = North America and Western Europe. - Figure 2 was created with the spineplot add-on for Stata (Cox 2008). - Click image to enlarge.

Related articles

• Children of primary and secondary school age out of school
• Children out of school: Global trend 1999-2008
• Trends in primary school enrollment, 1970-2004
• Universal primary education by 2015: A goal out of reach?
• Global population of primary school age, 2000-2015
• Population structure and children out of school
• National wealth and school enrollment
• Survival rate to the last grade of primary school
• Transition from primary to secondary education
• Regional disparities in school life expectancy
• School attendance among 5- to 24-year-olds in Liberia

External links

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
• UIS Data Centre
• UIS announcement of new out-of-school data, June 2012
• UNESCO e-Atlas of Out-of-School Children
• Reaching Out-of-School Children is Crucial for Development, UIS Fact Sheet no. 18, June 2012 (PDF, 833 KB)
• UNICEF-UIS Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children
• Millennium Development Goals
• Education for All goals
• Cox, Nicholas J. 2008. "Speaking Stata: Spineplots and their kin." Stata Journal 8 (1): 105-121. http://www.stata-journal.com/article.html?article=gr0031.

Friedrich Huebler, 31 July 2012 (edited 2 August 2012), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2012/04/oos.html

Children out of school: Global trend 1999-2008

68 million children of primary school age were out of school in 2008 according to estimates by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). Compared to 1999, when 106 million children were out of school, this is a decrease of over 38 million (see Figure 1). However, in spite of the observed progress over the last decade, the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015 will not be reached if current trends continue unchanged.

Figure 1: Children of primary school age out of school, 1999-2008

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, November 2010.

The UIS also publishes data on the regional distribution of children out of school, but complete data are only available until 2007. 43 percent - 30.4 million - of all children out of school in 2007 lived in sub-Saharan Africa (see Figure 2). A further 25 percent - 17.7 million - lived in South and West Asia. These two regions combined accounted for two thirds of the global out-of-school population. The shares of the remaining regions were as follows: 13 percent of all children out of school lived in East Asia and the Pacific, 9 percent in the Arab States, 4 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, 3 percent in North America and Western Europe, 2 percent in Central and Eastern Europe, and less than 1 percent in Central Asia.

Figure 2: Regional distribution of children out of school, 2007

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, November 2010.

Regional and global estimates of the number of children out of school can be obtained from the UIS Data Centre. On the main Data Centre page at stats.uis.unesco.org, click on Predefined Tables and then Education. Table 20H, "Regional sum of primary school age children out of school", lists the total, male and female number of children of primary school age out of school for the period 1999 to 2008.

Related articles

• Children of primary and secondary school age out of school
• Global population of primary school age, 2000-2015
• Population structure and children out of school
• National wealth and school enrollment
• Regional disparities in school life expectancy
• Universal primary education by 2015: A goal out of reach?

External links

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

Friedrich Huebler, 30 November 2010 (edited 17 December 2010), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2010/11/oos.html

UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2010

On 20-22 September 2010, world leaders met at the United Nations in New York on the occasion of the 10-year anniversary of the Millennium Summit of 2000. One outcome of the 2000 Summit was the adoption of eight Millennium Development Goals (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

Progress toward the MDGs is documented in the annual Millennium Development Goals Report by the United Nations. The 2010 report contains statistics and analysis for each of the eight goals. For the goal of universal primary education by 2015, "hope dims" according to the report. Although enrollment rates continue to grow worldwide, 69 million children of primary school age were still out of school in 2008, the most recent year with data. Almost three quarters of all out-of-school children lived in two regions: sub-Saharan Africa (31 million) and Southern Asia (18 million).

Reference

• United Nations. 2010. The millennium development goals report 2010. New York: United Nations. (Download PDF, 8.5 MB)

External links

• Millennium Development Goals (United Nations)
• Millennium Development Goals (United Nations Development Programme)
• Millennium Development Goals Indicators
• MDG Monitor
• Millennium Campaign

Related articles

• Global Education Digest 2010
• EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010
• Official MDG targets and indicators
• NER, GER and universal primary education
• Survival rate to the last grade of primary school

Friedrich Huebler, 31 October 2010, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2010/10/mdg.html

Global Education Digest 2010

On 17 September, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) announced the publication of the Global Education Digest 2010. This year's edition of the GED focuses on gender and education.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) call for the elimination of gender disparity at all levels of education by 2015 but according to the GED, only 85 of 157 countries with data will have reached gender parity in primary and secondary education by 2015, if current trends continue. 23 countries are unlikely to reach the goal at the primary level and 63 countries are unlikely to do so at the secondary level.

Gender disparities in access to education are greatest in sub-Saharan Africa, South and West Asia, and to a lesser extent in the Arab States. In these regions, fewer girls than boys are enrolled in primary, secondary and tertiary education. The opposite - gender disparity in favor of girls - can be observed in tertiary education in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North America and Western Europe.

Other topics discussed in the Global Education Digest 2010 include: the differences between boys and girls in terms of progression through and completion of primary and secondary education; the interaction between gender, socio-economic status, geographic location, ethnicity and other factors as determinants of participation in education; differences in learning achievement of boys and girls; trends in adult literacy; women's choice of field of study at the tertiary level of education; and national education policies.

The statistical tables in the GED were updated with data up to 2008 for most indicators. All data are also available at the UIS Data Centre.

Reference

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2010. Global education digest 2010: Comparing education statistics across the world. Montreal: UIS. (Download in PDF format, 8 MB)

External links

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
• UIS page for the Global Education Digest 2010
• UIS Data Centre

Related articles

• Global Education Digest 2009
• UNESCO releases data from 2008 education survey
• EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010
• Official MDG targets and indicators
• Trends in adult literacy, 1990-2008

Friedrich Huebler, 19 September 2010 (edited 20 September 2010), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2010/09/ged.html

Primary school entrance age and duration

Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) both aim at universal primary education. All children worldwide should attend and complete primary school by 2015. However, national education systems differ and the meaning of primary education for all children therefore varies from country to country.

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) maintains a database with the entrance age and duration of primary education for 204 countries and territories. Table 1 summarizes the distribution of primary school entrance ages from the UIS database. In nearly two thirds of all countries, children are expected to enter primary school when they are 6 years old. In a further third of countries, the entrance age is 5 or 7 years. Two countries have different primary school entrance ages, Ireland with 4 years and Mongolia with 8 years..

Table 1: Primary school entrance age

Age	Countries	Percent
4 years	1	0.5
5 years	29	14.2
6 years	126	61.8
7 years	47	23.0
8 years	1	0.5
Total	204	100.0

Source: UIS Data Centre, May 2010.

The geographic distribution of the entrance ages is shown in the map in Figure 1. 6 years is the common primary school start age in most of North and South America, Western Europe, Africa, the Arab States, and East Asia, with some exceptions. 7 years is more common in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. 7 years is also the primary school start age in some large countries: Brazil, China and Russia.

Figure 1: Primary school entrance age

Source: UIS Data Centre, May 2010.

The duration of primary school, shown in Table 2, ranges from 3 to 8 years. In 126 of 204 countries and territories, primary school has a duration of 6 years. In about 25 countries each, the duration is 4, 5 or 7 years. The shortest duration, 3 years, is reported for Armenia, Russia and Turkmenistan. In Ireland, which has the earliest entrance age with 4 years, children have to attend primary school for 8 years.

Table 2: Primary school duration

Age	Countries	Percent
3 years	3	1.5
4 years	26	12.8
5 years	23	11.3
6 years	126	61.8
7 years	25	12.3
8 years	1	0.5
Total	204	100.0

Source: UIS Data Centre, May 2010.

The map in Figure 2 illustrates the primary school duration by country. 6 years is the most frequent duration in North and South America, East Asia and the Pacific, the Arab States and most of Africa except for Southern Africa, where 7 years is the most common primary school duration. In Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and South and West Asia, primary education is typically shorter, with a duration of 4 or 5 years.

Figure 2: Primary school duration

Source: UIS Data Centre, May 2010.

What are the implications of the different primary school entrance ages and durations for the MDG and EFA goal of universal primary education by 2015? The official duration of primary education is closely linked to the number of children out of school. As an example, assume that a country has a primary school duration of 5 years and that the number of children in and out of school is evenly distributed across the official primary school ages. Shortening the duration of primary school from 5 to 4 years would immediately reduce the number of children out of school by 20 percent. However, the primary school net enrollment rate, the official indicator for the MDG of universal primary education, would not change and the country would therefore not be closer to the 2015 goal.

Related articles

• Official school ages: primary, secondary, and compulsory education
• Children of primary and secondary school age out of school
• NER, GER and universal primary education
• Universal primary education by 2015: A goal out of reach?
• Trends in primary school enrollment, 1970-2004
• Regional disparities in school life expectancy
• Official MDG targets and indicators

External links

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
• UIS Data Centre
• Education for All goals
• Millennium Development Goals

Friedrich Huebler, 30 May 2010, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2010/05/age.html

NER, GER and universal primary education

The net enrollment ratio (NER) in primary education is one of the official indicators for the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education. The primary NER is the share of children of primary school age that are enrolled in primary school.

Primary NER	=	Number of children of primary school age enrolled in primary school
		Number of children of primary school age

If all children of primary school age are enrolled in primary school, the primary NER is 100 percent. A primary NER below 100 percent means that not all children of primary school age are in primary school; some may be out of school, some may be in preschool, in secondary school or in other forms of education. By definition, the NER cannot exceed 100 percent.

The gross enrollment ratio (GER) is a related indicator. The primary GER indicates how many children, regardless of their age, are enrolled in primary school, relative to the population of primary school age.

Primary GER	=	Number of children enrolled in primary school
		Number of children of primary school age

The value of the GER can exceed 100 percent. Values above 100 percent mean that some children above or below primary school age are in primary school. A GER above 100 percent is usually an indicator of overage enrollment, for example due to repetition or late entry.

Ideally, all children in a country enter primary school at the official primary school entrance age and graduate from the final primary grade after the official duration of primary school, for example after four or six years. In this case, the primary NER would be 100 percent and universal primary education would be achieved. If no children repeated a grade, the primary GER would also be 100 percent. If we assume that some children have to repeat a grade and remain in primary school although they have reached official secondary school age, the primary GER would be slightly above 100 percent.

However, we can demonstrate that a primary NER of 100 percent is not a necessary condition for universal primary education. Similarly, the primary GER can be below 100 percent in a country, although universal primary education has been achieved. For the demonstration we refer to data for Japan. According to the Global Education Digest 2009 by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Japan has achieved universal primary education with a primary NER and GER of 100 percent in 2007, the most recent year with data.

What would happen to the NER and GER if Japanese children systematically entered and graduated from primary school one year early or one year late? These hypothetical situations can be simulated with data from the World Population Prospects 2008 by the UN Population Division. Table 1 lists the estimated population of Japan between 5 and 12 years of age in the year 2009.

Table 1: Estimated population of Japan between 5 and 12 years, 2009

Age	Population
5 years	1,120,774
6 years	1,134,317
7 years	1,145,758
8 years	1,155,440
9 years	1,163,697
10 years	1,171,297
11 years	1,179,006
12 years	1,185,028
5-10 years	6,891,283
6-11 years	6,949,515
7-12 years	7,000,226

Source: UN Population Division. 2009. World Population Prospects: 2008 Revision.

Scenario 1: entry and graduation at official age

Primary school in Japan has 6 grades and the official primary school age is 6 to 11 years. If all children enter primary school at age 6 and graduate after 6 years, the primary NER and GER can be calculated as follows.

Primary NER	=	Number of children of primary school age enrolled in primary school
		Number of children of primary school age
	=	6,949,515 / 6,949,515
	=	100%

Because there is no overage or underage enrollment, the number of children in primary school is identical to the number of children of primary school age (6 to 11 years) and thus the primary GER is identical to the primary NER.

Primary GER	=	Number of children enrolled in primary school
		Number of children of primary school age
	=	6,949,515 / 6,949,515
	=	100%

Scenario 2: early entry

If all children enter and graduate from primary school one year early, the primary NER and GER are no longer 100 percent. The population of primary school age (6-11 years) is still 6,949,515, but in this age group only children between 6 and 10 are in primary school, in addition to children aged 5 years. In this scenario, children age 11 are already in secondary school. The number of children of primary school age enrolled in primary school is therefore 6,949,515 - 1,179,006 = 5,770,509 and the primary NER is no longer 100 percent but 83 percent.

Primary NER (early entry)	=	Number of children of primary school age enrolled in primary school
		Number of children of primary school age
	=	5,770,509 / 6,949,515
	=	83.0%

The primary GER is still near 100 percent because the population in primary school (5-10 years) is similar to the population of primary school age (6-11 years).

Primary GER (early entry)	=	Number of children enrolled in primary school
		Number of children of primary school age
	=	6,891,283 / 6,949,515
	=	99.2%

Scenario 3: late entry

Now assume that all children enter and graduate from primary school one year late. Only children between 7 and 12 years are in primary school. Of the population of primary school age (6-11 years) only those between 7 and 11 are in primary school, in addition to children aged 12 years. The number of children of primary school age enrolled in primary school is therefore 6,949,515 - 1,134,317 = 5,815,198 and the primary NER is now 83.7 percent.

Primary NER (late entry)	=	Number of children of primary school age enrolled in primary school
		Number of children of primary school age
	=	5,815,198 / 6,949,515
	=	83.7%

As in scenario 2 with early entry, the primary GER is near 100 percent because the population in primary school (7-12 years) is close to the population of primary school age (6-11 years).

Primary GER (late entry)	=	Number of children enrolled in primary school
		Number of children of primary school age
	=	7,000,226 / 6,949,515
	=	100.7%

Table 2 and Figure 1 summarize the primary NER and GER under the three scenarios described above. In all three scenarios there is universal primary education but in the case of early or late entry, the primary NER is far below 100 percent. On the other hand, the primary GER is equal to or near 100 percent in all three scenarios, due to the small difference between the number of children in the individual age cohorts.

Table 2: Primary NER and GER in Japan in the case of age-appropriate, early and late entry and graduation

Scenario for primary school enrollment	Primary NER (%)	Primary GER (%)
Entry and graduation at official age	100.0	100.0
Entry and graduation one year early	83.0	99.2
Entry and graduation one year late	83.7	100.7

Figure 1: Primary NER and GER in Japan in the case of age-appropriate, early and late entry and graduation


In an ideal situation, when all or almost all children enter primary school at the official entrance age and graduate after the official duration of primary school, both the NER and GER are near 100 percent. However, as demonstrated with data for Japan, a primary NER and GER of 100 percent is not a necessary condition for universal primary education. In countries where children enter school before or after the official entrance age, universal primary education can exist although the primary NER may be below 100 percent.

Related articles

• Official MDG targets and indicators
• Official school ages: primary, secondary and compulsory education
• Global population of primary school age, 2000-2015
• Population structure and children out of school
• Regional distribution of children out of school
• Universal primary education by 2015: A goal out of reach?
• Global Education Digest 2009

External links

• Millennium Development Goals
• UNESCO Institute for Statistics
• World Population Prospects: 2008 Revision
• UN Population Division

Friedrich Huebler, 29 September 2009, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2009/09/upe.html