Showing posts with label secondary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label secondary. Show all posts

31 July 2017

More children are out of school in poor countries

The rate and number of out-of-school children are strongly correlated with national income: in poorer countries, more children are out of school than in wealthier countries.

The World Bank classifies all countries according to their gross national income (GNI) per capita (World Bank, 2017). The map in Figure 1 shows the distribution of countries by income level according to the July 2016 classification. Low-income countries with the lowest per-capita income are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa.

Figure 1

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Figure 2 shows that the out-of-school rate decreases with increasing national income. Low-income countries have, on average, the highest out-of-school rates, according to estimates by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. 19% of all children of primary school age (about 6 to 11 years) are out of school in low-income countries, compared to only 3% in high-income countries. Among adolescents of lower secondary school age (about 12 to 14 years), more than one third (38%) are out of school in low-income countries. The average out-of-school rate is highest for youth of upper secondary school age (about 15 to 17 years) living in low-income countries: nearly two thirds (62%) are not in school.

Figure 2

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

The correlation between national income and exclusion from education can also be demonstrated with national data. Figure 3 plots GNI per capita against the primary out-of-school rate. The highest out-of-school rates are observed among countries with the lowest per-capita income. South Sudan, one of the poorest countries, has the world's highest primary out-of-school rate, with 69%. The absolute number of out-of-school children, indicated by the size of the markers in Figure 3, also tends to be higher in countries with lower national income. The three countries with the largest number of out-of-school children – India, Nigeria and Pakistan – are in the lower-middle-income group of countries. The United States of America stands out as a high-income country with a relatively high rate and number of out-of-school children, but analysis by the National Center for Education Statistics shows that the majority of these children are being homeschooled (Redford et al., 2017).

Figure 3

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

A recent policy paper by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the Global Education Monitoring Report (UIS and GEMR, 2017) examines the link between education and poverty. The paper concludes that reaching the Sustainable Development Goal of universal primary and secondary education could reduce the global poverty headcount (measured by the number of persons living on less than $1.90 per day) by more than 420 million, or more than half of the current number.

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06 March 2016

New UIS data on educational attainment and mean years of schooling

How do the world's countries compare in terms of the population's educational attainment? This question can be answered with new data by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), released in February 2016. The UIS Data Centre lists data for three indicators:

All three indicators are available for the total, male and female population. The first two indicators are presented for the levels of education defined in the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED):

  • Primary education (ISCED 1)
  • Lower secondary education (ISCED 2)
  • Upper secondary education (ISCED 3)
  • Post-secondary non-tertiary education (ISCED 4)
  • Short-cycle tertiary education (ISCED 5)
  • Bachelor's degree or equivalent (ISCED 6)
  • Master's degree or equivalent (ISCED 7)
  • Doctoral degree or equivalent (ISCED 8)

The table on the highest completed level of education in the UIS Data Centre also presents the percentage of the population that has no formal schooling and that has incomplete primary education.

For the first time, the UIS is offering time series with data on educational attainment, covering the years 1995 to 2015. Previously, data on the highest and minimum completed level of education were only available for the most recent year. In total, educational attainment data are available for 147 countries and territories. The number of countries with data for a given year is shown in Figure 1. For example, 74 countries have data for 2010 and one country (Mali) has data for 2015. Portugal has data for 17 years, South Africa has data for 11 years, other countries have data for fewer years. 35 countries have data for only 1 year.

Figure 1: Number of countries with data on educational attainment in UIS Data Centre per year

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Estimates of mean years of schooling, i.e. the average number of completed years of education, are derived from data on educational attainment and were first released by the UIS in December 2013. The estimates were updated in March 2015 and then again with the most recent release, in February 2016. The UIS Data Centre now presents mean years of schooling for 149 countries and territories for the period 1970 to 2014. Figure 2 shows the number of countries with data on mean years of schooling per year. 53 countries have data for 2010, more than any other year. The countries with the best coverage are South Africa with data on mean years of schooling for 16 years, Spain with data for 13 years, and Mexico with data for 11 years. 45 countries have data for only 1 year.

Figure 2: Number of countries with data on mean years of schooling in UIS Data Centre per year

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics

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28 February 2016

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

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20 July 2015

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.

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31 January 2015

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).

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30 June 2014

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.

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30 April 2012

School attendance among 5- to 24-year-olds in Liberia

An article that was published on this site in July 2011, "School attendance by grade and age in Liberia", shows that overage school attendance is very common in Liberia, mainly due to late entry into the education system. The official primary school age in Liberia is 6 to 11 years according to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED). Yet, an analysis of data from a Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) from 2007 demonstrates that the vast majority of pupils in primary and secondary school in Liberia are older than the theoretical age for their grade. For example, nearly three quarters of all first-graders in Liberia are at least 3 years older than the official entrance age into primary education (see Figure 1). 24% of all first-graders are 5 or 6 years overage, 14% are 7 or 8 years overage, and 5% are 9 or more years overage. Children in the last group start primary school at age 15 or later.

Figure 1: Age distribution of pupils in primary and secondary education in Liberia, 2007
Graph with data on overage and underage pupils in primary and secondary education in Liberia
Source: Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) 2007. - Click image to enlarge.

Figure 1 shows the age distribution in the 12 grades of primary and secondary education in Liberia. The same DHS data from 2007 can also be analyzed differently, by single year of age instead of by grade. Figure 2 presents the level and grade attended for the population between 5 and 24 years of age. For each age group, the graph shows the percentage in pre-primary, primary, secondary, and tertiary education. The data for primary and secondary education is further divided into single grades, indicated by shades of blue for the 6 primary grades and shades of green for the 6 secondary grades. In addition, Figure 2 shows how many percent are out of school and for how many percent the level and grade of education attended is missing.

Figure 2: Level and grade of education attended by population 5-24 years in Liberia, 2007
Graph with data on school attendance by age in Liberia
Source: Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) 2007. - Click image to enlarge.

One surprising finding is the large percentage of children between 5 and 14 years who are in pre-primary education. About half of all 5- to 8-year-olds, 39% of all 9-year-olds, and 28% of all 10-year-olds are in pre-primary education. Even at age 14, nearly 7% are still in preschool. One possible explanation is that parents keep their children in pre-primary education due to lack of access to primary education.

Some children start attending primary education at age 5 or 6 but most children enter late. Even among persons 20 years or older, some are still in the first primary grade. School attendance overall reaches a peak at age 14, when more than 86% are in school, mostly in primary education. Primary school attendance rates are highest among 12- to 15-year-olds; two out of three children in this age group are in primary education. Secondary school attendance reaches a peak at age 19, when 38% are in secondary education; in addition, at least 30% of all 17- and 18-year-olds are in secondary education. Attendance rates for tertiary education are low and do not exceed 2% until age 24, when 4% study at a university or other institution of higher learning.

The percentage of the population that is not in any type of formal education decreases from 44% among 5-year-olds to 13% among 14-year-olds. From age 15, out-of-school rates increase again and among 23- and 24-year-olds in Liberia, 61% and 60%, respectively, are not in school. Lastly, for a small percentage of the DHS sample, the grade and level attended was missing.

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31 March 2012

World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education

Cover of the UNESCO gender atlas

UNESCO and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) have published a new World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education that illustrates the participation of girls and boys in pre-primary, primary, secondary, and tertiary education. The data show that there has been significant progress towards gender parity since the 1970s. Two thirds of all countries have reached gender parity in primary education but at the secondary level of education girls are still lagging behind. In some countries, girls have the advantage with regard to access to and completion of education. At the tertiary level, female students outnumber male students in many high-income countries.

The atlas is divided into eight chapters that contain a total of 28 maps and close to 100 charts and tables:

  1. Increased worldwide demand for quality schooling
  2. Girls’ right to education
  3. Enrolment and gender trends: primary education
  4. Enrolment and gender trends: secondary education
  5. Enrolment and gender trends: tertiary education
  6. Trends in school-life expectancy
  7. Gender trends: adult and youth literacy
  8. How policies affect gender equality in education

An excerpt from Chapter 7 on literacy is shown below. The map (please click the image for a larger view) visualizes adult literacy rates from the database of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Among countries with data, literacy rates are lowest in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The highest adult literacy rates are observed in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. For many developed countries, the adult literacy rate is unknown because these countries have achieved universal primary education and no longer report data on the traditional literate-illiterate dichotomy, focusing instead on the more narrowly defined concept of functional literacy.

The atlas is available in English, French and Spanish. In addition, UNESCO and UIS plan to launch an online e-atlas with interactive maps.

Excerpt from World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education: Map with adult literacy rates
World map with adult literacy rates
Source: UNESCO, 2012, World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education, pages 92-93. - Click image to enlarge.

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26 February 2012

Educational attainment in sub-Saharan Africa

The educational attainment of a country's adult population reflects long-run trends in participation in primary, secondary and post-secondary education. Educational attainment is a measure of human capital - the skills and competencies of the population - and thus an indicator of a country's potential for economic growth. Educational attainment is also closely linked to health, political participation, and other indicators of social development.

Compared to other regions, educational attainment in sub-Saharan Africa is relatively low but there are large variations between individual countries. The graph and table below present data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), published in the Global Education Digest 2011. The values for each country indicate which percentage of the population aged 25 years and older completed at least primary, lower secondary, upper secondary, post-secondary, or tertiary education. For example, in Seychelles, 90% of the adult population completed at least primary education, 67% at least lower secondary education, and 44% at least upper secondary education. At the other end of the distribution is Burkina Faso, where only 5% of the adult population completed at least primary education and only 2% at least lower secondary education.

Sub-Saharan Africa: Population 25 years and older by minimum level of education
Graph with educational attainment in sub-Saharan Africa
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Global Education Digest 2011, Table 19. - Click image to enlarge.

Among the 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa for which UIS has data, only seven - Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe - have attainment rates for primary education at or above 50%. In the remaining eight countries with data - Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Senegal, and Uganda - less than half of the population 25 years and older completed at least primary education. For Benin, the share of the population with completed primary education is unknown because the country reported combined figures for incomplete and complete primary education; 16% of the population attended primary education with or without completing that level (see Global Education Digest 2011, Table 18).

Similar to the attainment rates for primary education, attainment rates for other levels of education also vary widely between individual countries. The proportion of the population that completed at least lower secondary education ranges from 2% in Burkina Faso to 70% in South Africa. For upper secondary education, the attainment rates range from 0.5% in Burkina Faso to 44% in Seychelles. Not more than 0.5% of the adult population completed post-secondary education in Burkina Faso and Malawi, compared to 12% in South Africa. Completed tertiary education is uncommon among the population 25 years and older in sub-Saharan Africa. Only one country, Seychelles, has an attainment rate for tertiary education greater than 3%.

Sub-Saharan Africa: Population 25 years and older by minimum level of education
Country Year Level of education (%)
Primary Lower secondary Upper secondary Post- secondary Tertiary
Benin 2002
 .
 14.3
 .
 2.2
 2.2
Burkina Faso 2007
 5.2
 2.0
 0.5
 0.3
 0.2
Chad 2004
 8.5
 5.5
 .
 3.2
 3.2
Kenya 2010
 59.4
 41.9
 36.3
 6.3
 0.0
Lesotho 2008
 40.9
 20.9
 13.8
 5.4
 1.9
Malawi 1998
 19.8
 8.6
 5.2
 0.5
 0.5
Mali 2006
 18.6
 10.3
 5.5
 1.9
 1.9
Mauritius 2000
 48.9
 38.9
 20.3
 7.9
 2.6
Namibia 2001
 48.5
 27.7
 17.0
 5.3
 2.2
Senegal 2006
 10.7
 7.5
 4.9
 3.2
 0.8
Seychelles 2002
 90.3
 66.8
 44.2
 .
 7.4
South Africa 2009
 76.4
 70.4
 35.7
 11.8
 0.7
Tanzania 2002
 48.9
 6.0
 1.6
 .
 0.9
Uganda 2008
 34.6
 23.4
 8.7
 6.8
 1.8
Zimbabwe 2002
 65.1
 45.9
 10.3
 9.1
 1.5
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Global Education Digest 2011, Table 19.

When interpreting the educational attainment data for sub-Saharan Africa it is necessary to consider that the reported values for some countries are more than a decade old. As younger, more educated cohorts reach age 25, the average attainment rates of the population 25 years and older increase and the situation of some countries is therefore likely to have improved since the year of reporting. In addition, the picture is incomplete because for 30 of the 45 countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region, as defined by UIS, no educational attainment data is available in the UIS Data Centre.

Reference

  • UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2011. Global Education Digest 2011: Comparing Education Statistics Across the World. Montreal: UIS. (Download in PDF format, 7.5 MB)
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30 October 2011

Global Education Digest 2011

Cover of the Global Education Digest 2010

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) announced the publication of the Global Education Digest 2011. The focus of this year's edition of the GED is on secondary education.

Growing enrolment in primary education over past decades - partly due to the emphasis on universal primary education by the Millennium Development Goals and Education for All - has led to increased demand for secondary education. The Global Education Digest 2011 describes trends in participation in and completion of lower and upper secondary education from 1970 to the present, as well as disparities in access to education of children of secondary school age. The GED also contains analysis of data on educational attainment, technical and vocational education and training, secondary school teachers, and education finance.

The analytical chapter is accompanied by 200 pages of statistical tables on pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary education. The GED 2011 introduces several new tables that did not appear in previous editions. Table 5 lists national, regional and global estimates of the number and percent of children of primary and lower secondary school age out of school. Table 19 introduces a new indicator of educational attainment, the percentage of the population 25 years and older with at least completed primary, lower secondary, upper secondary, post-secondary, or tertiary education. All data from the statistical annex will also be available in the UIS Data Centre.

Reference

  • UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2011. Global education digest 2011: Comparing education statistics across the world. Montreal: UIS. (Download in PDF format, 7.5 MB)

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31 July 2011

School attendance by grade and age in Liberia

The article "Overage pupils in primary and secondary education" of June 2011 summarized data on school attendance from 36 countries and found that overage school attendance is common in sub-Saharan Africa. The countries with the highest share of overage pupils in the sample were Haiti, Liberia, Uganda, Rwanda, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, and Malawi. In Liberia, 93% of all pupils in primary and secondary education are at least one year overage for their grade and 84% are at least two years overage. This article takes a closer look at Liberia by analyzing data from the same Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) from 2007 that was analyzed for the earlier article.

The official primary school age in Liberia, as defined by the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), is 6 to 11 years. The official secondary school age is 12 to 17 years. Given these school ages, a 6-year-old in grade 1 and a 7-year-old in grade 2 are in the right grade for their age. A 7-year-old in grade 1 would be one year overage and an 8-year-old in grade 1 would be two years overage. A 5-year-old in grade 1 would be one year underage.

The graph below shows the age distribution of pupils in primary and secondary education in Liberia. Pupils who are in the right grade for their age or underage are in a small minority. In the first twelve grades, their share never exceeds 9%. By contrast, as many as 98% of all pupils in a single grade are overage. The degree of overage attendance is astounding: 5% of all first graders are 9 or more years overage, meaning that they start primary school at age 15 or later. 19% of all first graders are at least 7 years overage and 44% are at least 5 years overage. In grade 8, 18% of all pupils are 9 or more years overage; while the official age for eighth graders is 13 years, one in five pupils in that grade in Liberia is 22 years or older.

Age distribution of pupils in primary and secondary education in Liberia, 2007
Graph with data on overage and underage pupils in primary and secondary education in Liberia
Source: Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) 2007. - Click image to enlarge.

What are the reasons for this high prevalence of overage school attendance? In Liberia, as in other countries of sub-Saharan Africa, many pupils enter school late for a variety of reasons that include poverty, a scarcity of educational facilities, and lack of enforcement of the official school ages. High repetition rates further exacerbate the problem of overage school attendance. Among the consequences of this age structure in school are a higher probability of dropout and reduced lifetime earnings caused by incomplete education or late entry into the labor market.

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Friedrich Huebler, 31 July 2011 (edited 27 February 2012), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2011/07/liberia.html
Posted by on Sunday, July 31, 2011 2 comments
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30 June 2011

Overage pupils in primary and secondary education

Pupils can be overage for their grade for two reasons: late entry and repetition. Take for example a country where children are expected to enter primary school at 6 years of age. If a child enters grade 1 at age 7, he or she is one year overage for the grade. A child who enters grade 1 at age 8 and repeats the grade will be three years overage for the grade; two of the three years are due to late entry and the third year is due to repetition.

Children who are many years overage are less likely to complete their education. If they stay in school, they graduate later than pupils who entered school at the official starting age. These overage graduates enter the labor market late and often with lower educational attainment. As a consequence, they are likely to have lower cumulative earnings over their lifetime than persons who graduated and entered the labor market at a younger age and with higher educational attainment. For the country as a whole this in turn means reduced national income and slower economic growth.

Overage school attendance is common in sub-Saharan Africa but also occurs in other regions. The figure below shows data from 36 nationally representative household surveys that were conducted between 2004 and 2009. 34 of these surveys were Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and the remaining two surveys, those for Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan, were Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS). For each country, the graph shows the share of children in primary and secondary education who are at least one or two years overage for their grade. The entrance ages and durations of primary and secondary education used in this study are those specified by the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED).

Percentage of children in primary and secondary education who are at least 1 or 2 years overage for their grade
Graph with data on overage children in primary and secondary education
Source: Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), 2004-2009.

In the sample of 36 countries, the share of children who are at least one year overage for their grade ranges from 5 percent in Armenia to 95 percent in Haiti. Other countries where at least three out of four pupils in primary or secondary education are overage include Liberia (93%), Uganda (86%), Rwanda (83%), Cambodia (78%), Mozambique (76%), and Ethiopia (75%). In addition to Armenia, the percentage of pupils who are at least one year overage is below 10 percent in Moldova and Egypt (8%).

The share of children in primary and secondary education who are at least two years overage for their grade ranges from 1 percent in Armenia to 85 percent in Haiti. In addition to Haiti, at least half of all pupils are two or more years overage in Liberia (84%), Uganda (67%), Rwanda (65%), Ethiopia (59%), Cambodia (55%), Malawi (51%), and Madagascar (50%). On average, the share of children who are at least two years overage is 19 percent less than the share of children who are at least one year overage.

However, there are exceptions. In Albania and the Ukraine, 43 and 26 percent respectively of all children in primary and secondary education are at least one year overage. By contrast, only 5 and 2 percent respectively are at least two years overage. This means that in these two countries, a relatively large number of children enter school one year late or repeat one grade, but hardly any children enter school two years late or repeat more than one grade. Late entry and repetition are therefore less likely to have negative consequences on lifetime earnings and national income in Albania and the Ukraine than in other countries.

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Friedrich Huebler, 30 June 2011, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2011/06/age.html
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03 January 2011

Educational attainment in the United States, 1940-2009

In the United States, the level of education of the adult population has increased steadily since the middle of the 20th century. The share of the population 25 years and over who attended college increased from 10 percent in 1940 to 56 percent in 2009. 30 percent of the population in this age group had completed 4 or more years of college in 2009. The share of the population with only elementary education or no formal schooling fell from 60 percent in 1940 to 6 percent in 2009. High school reached its peak as the most common level of education in the 1970s and 1980s, with a share around 50 percent, but younger cohorts are more likely to continue their education at the post-secondary level.

This increase in educational attainment of the work force has contributed to a strengthening of U.S. competitiveness in the global economy. At the same time, the increased demand for highly skilled workers emphasizes the importance of secondary and higher education for individuals in search of employment.

The trends in years of schooling of the adult U.S. population from 1940 to 2009 are visualized in the figure below. The table that follows lists data for selected years. The data on educational attainment were collected with the Current Population Survey (CPS), a joint survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau that has been conducted since 1940.

Years of school completed by population 25 years and over, 1940-2009
Graph with trends in educational attainment in the United States from 1940 to 2009
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, September 2010

Years of school completed by population 25 years and over, 1940-2009
Years of school Percent of population
1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2009
0 to 4 years elementary school 13.5 10.8 8.3 5.3 3.4 2.4 1.6 1.4
5 to 8 years elementary school 46.0 36.1 31.4 22.4 14.1 8.8 5.4 4.1
1 to 3 years high school 15.0 16.9 19.2 17.1 13.9 11.2 8.9 7.9
4 years high school 14.1 20.1 24.6 34.0 36.8 38.4 33.1 31.1
1 to 3 years college 5.4 7.1 8.8 10.2 14.9 17.9 25.4 26.1
4 or more years college 4.6 6.0 7.7 11.0 17.0 21.3 25.6 29.5
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, September 2010

Data source
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Friedrich Huebler, 3 January 2011, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2011/01/usa.html
Posted by on Monday, January 03, 2011 0 comments
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