27 February 2011

UIS time series with education data since 1970

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) has released new time series with education data for the years since 1970. Until this release, most indicators in the UIS Data Centre only had data for 1999 and later years, except for literacy, for which the UIS offered data for the period since 1975. The historical data are compliant with the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) of 1997 and therefore comparable with existing post-1998 data in the UIS Data Centre.

With the new release, the UIS now offers data for the past 40 years for the following indicators:
  • Entry age and duration of pre-primary, primary and secondary education
  • School age population of pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary age
  • Enrolment in pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary education
  • Gross enrolment ratio (GER) for pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary education
  • Net enrolment rate (NER) for primary education
  • New entrants to primary education
  • Gross intake ratio for primary education
  • Repeaters in primary and secondary education
  • Gross intake rate to the last grade of primary education
  • School life expectancy
  • Teaching staff in pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary education
  • Pupil/teacher ratio in pre-primary, primary and secondary education
As an example for the expanded coverage, Figure 1 shows the gross enrolment ratio in primary education for China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and the United States, the five countries with the largest population of primary school age in 2010, for the period 1970-2009. Figure 2 shows how school life expectancy evolved in these countries over the same period.

Figure 1: Gross enrolment ratio (GER) in primary education, 1970-2009
Graph with primary GER for selected countries from 1970 to 2009
Source: UIS Data Centre, February 2011

Figure 2: School life expectancy, primary to tertiary education, 1970-2009
Graph
Source: UIS Data Centre, February 2011

The time series can be retrieved from the UIS Data Centre, under "Predefined Tables" and "Education". Data for the years 1970 to 1998 are in Tables 21 to 26, and data for 1999 and following years are in Tables 1 to 20H.

As an example, the primary GER in Figure 1 is available in Tables 5 (for 1970-1998) and 23 (for 1999-2009). To create a complete time series for 1970-2009, the data from Tables 5 and 23 must be merged after download from the Data Centre. Data on school life expectancy are in Tables 8 and 22.

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Friedrich Huebler, 27 February 2011, Creative Commons License
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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
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17 December 2010

Mobile version of International Education Statistics blog

The International Education Statistics blog is now available in a version formatted for mobile devices. If you access the blog on an iPhone, Android phone or similar device, the site will be displayed differently. The navigation bar, the tags and other elements are removed, graphs are reformatted to fit the smaller screen of mobile devices, and navigation is simplified. The mobile version of the blog can be viewed at http://huebler.blogspot.com/?m=1. The bottom of each page on the mobile version has a link to the web version of the blog.

Screenshot of mobile version of blog
Screenshot of mobile version of International Education Statistics blog

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Friedrich Huebler, 17 December 2010 (edited 18 December 2010), Creative Commons License
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30 November 2010

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
Bar chart with global number of children out of school from 1999 to 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
Pie chart with regional distribution of children out of school in 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.

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Friedrich Huebler, 30 November 2010 (edited 17 December 2010), Creative Commons License
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31 October 2010

UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2010

Cover of the Millennium Development Goals Report 2010On 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)
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Friedrich Huebler, 31 October 2010, Creative Commons License
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