International Statistic: map

Showing posts with label map. Show all posts

Saturday, March 31, 2012

World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education

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:

Increased worldwide demand for quality schooling
Girls’ right to education
Enrolment and gender trends: primary education
Enrolment and gender trends: secondary education
Enrolment and gender trends: tertiary education
Trends in school-life expectancy
Gender trends: adult and youth literacy
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

Source: UNESCO, 2012, World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education, pages 92-93. - Click image to enlarge.

Reference

UNESCO. 2012. World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education. Paris: UNESCO. (Download in PDF format, 6.4 MB)

External links

Friedrich Huebler, 31 March 2012, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2012/03/atlas.html

Friday, September 30, 2011

Adult and youth literacy in 2009

8 September was International Literacy Day. On this occasion, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) released a fact sheet with estimates of adult and youth literacy in 2009, the most recent year with data.

The global adult literacy rate, for the population 15 years and older, was 83.7% in 2009, compared to 83.4% in 2008. The adult illiterate population fell from 796.2 million in 2008 to 793.1 million in 2009. 64.1% of the adult illiterate population were women. Adult literacy rates are lowest in sub-Saharan African and in South and West Asia (see Figure 1). In 11 countries, less than half of the adult population were able to read and write: Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Haiti, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

Figure 1: Adult literacy rate, 2009
World map with adult literacy rates in 2009

World map with adult literacy rates in 2009

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2011

Youth literacy rates - for the population 15 to 24 years - are generally higher than adult literacy rates, due to increased school attendance rates among younger generations. The global youth literacy rate was 89.3% in 2009, compared to 89.0% in 2008. The youth illiterate population fell from 130.6 million in 2008 to 127.3 million in 2009. Youth literacy rates are lowest in sub-Saharan Africa (see Figure 2) and the five countries worldwide with youth literacy rates below 50% are from this region: Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and Niger.

Figure 2: Youth literacy rate, 2009
World map with youth literacy rates in 2009

World map with youth literacy rates in 2009

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2011

Reference

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2011. Adult and youth literacy. UIS fact sheet no. 16, September. Montreal: UIS. (Download in PDF format, 350 KB)

External links

Friedrich Huebler, 30 September 2011, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2011/09/literacy.html

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Education for All regions

For monitoring of progress towards the six Education for All (EFA) goals, the world has been divided into eight EFA regions:

North America and Western Europe
Central and Eastern Europe
Central Asia
East Asia and the Pacific
South and West Asia
Arab States
Sub-Saharan Africa
Latin America and the Caribbean

These regions, shown in the map below, are used in publications like the EFA Global Monitoring Report by UNESCO or the Global Education Digest by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

Regions for monitoring of Education for All goals
World map with Education for All (EFA) regions

World map with Education for All (EFA) regions

Combined, the eight EFA regions cover 204 countries and territories. Two EFA regions - East Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean - are further divided into two sub-regions.

Composition of EFA regions

North America and Western Europe (26 countries and territories)
Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.
Central and Eastern Europe (21 countries)
Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine.
Central Asia (9 countries)
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
East Asia and the Pacific (33 countries and territories)
East Asia (16 countries and territories)
Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Macao (China), Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Viet Nam.
Pacific (17 countries and territories)
Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.
South and West Asia (9 countries)
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.
Arab States (20 countries and territories)
Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mauritania, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
Sub-Saharan Africa (45 countries)
Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Latin America and the Caribbean (41 countries and territories)
Latin America (19 countries)
Argentina, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of).
Caribbean (22 countries and territories)
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands.

References

UNESCO. 2011. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2011: The hidden crisis: Armed conflict and education. Paris: UNESCO. Annex, p. 269. (Download in PDF format, 6.4 MB)
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). 2010. Global education digest 2010: Comparing education statistics across the world. Montreal: UIS. Annex, p. 274-275. (Download in PDF format, 8 MB)

External links

Friedrich Huebler, 26 March 2011, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2011/03/efa.html

Sunday, May 30, 2010

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
World map with national primary school entrance ages

World map with national primary school entrance ages

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
World map with national primary school duration

World map with national 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

External links

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

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Updated "Guide to creating maps with Stata"

The guide to creating maps with Stata has been updated with new links to third-party software.

Map created with spmap in Stata: length of country names
Example map created with spmap in Stata

Friedrich Huebler, 30 June 2009, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2009/06/stata-maps.html

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Pupil/teacher ratio in secondary school

The pupil/teacher ratio is an indicator of education quality. In crowded classrooms with a high number of pupils per teacher the quality of education suffers. For pupils it is difficult to follow the course and teachers can dedicate less time to the needs of each individual student. Data from UNESCO on the pupil/teacher ratio in primary school show that crowded classrooms are more common in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia than in other parts of the world. 22 of the 27 countries with 40 or more pupils per primary school teacher are located in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In secondary school, pupil/teacher ratios are lower than in primary school. The Data Centre of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics provides the pupil/teacher ratio in secondary school for 189 countries and territories. For 100 countries, the pupil/teacher ratios are from 2006, 9 countries have data from 2007, 51 countries have data from 2004 or 2005, and the remaining 29 countries have data from 1999 to 2003. For the map below, all countries with data were divided into five groups:

Fewer than 10 pupils per teacher: 24 countries
10 to 19 pupils per teacher: 107 countries
20 to 29 pupils per teacher: 41 countries
30 to 39 pupils per teacher: 13 countries
40 or more pupils per teacher: 4 countries

Pupil/teacher ratio in secondary school, circa 2006
Map of the world showing national pupil/teacher ratios in secondary school

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, May 2008.

The lowest pupil/teacher ratios in secondary school were reported for Bermuda (6.0), Tokelau (7.0), Portugal (7.1), and Andorra (7.8). 20 additional countries have pupil/teacher ratios above 8 and below 10: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, Niue, Norway, Qatar, Russia, Sweden, and Turks and Caicos Islands.

More than half of all countries - including most countries in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia - have pupil/teacher ratios between 10 and 19. The group also includes some countries in other regions. Although pupil/teacher ratios in Sub-Saharan Africa are generally higher than in other parts of the world, the following countries from the region have only 10 to 19 pupils per secondary school teacher: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Swaziland. 22 of the 41 countries with pupil/teacher ratios between 20 and 29 are also located in Sub-Saharan Africa.

17 countries have 30 or more pupils per teacher in secondary school and 10 of these countries are in Sub-Saharan Africa. The countries with 30 to 39 pupils per teacher are Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Honduras, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Philippines, South Africa, and Zambia. Classes at the secondary level of education are most crowded in Nigeria (pupil/teacher ratio 40.2), Pakistan (41.9), Malawi (45.6), and Eritrea (54.4).

The following table lists the average pupil/teacher ratio in secondary school by Millennium Development Goal region. The Commonwealth of Independent States (10.9), the developed countries (11.4), Oceania (14.8), Western Asia (15.3), Latin America and the Caribbean (16.6), Eastern Asia (19.0), and Northern Africa (19.0) have average pupil/teacher ratios below 20. Pupil/teacher ratios are highest in South-Eastern Asia (22.8), Sub-Saharan Africa (25.8), and Southern Asia (26.4). The global average is 18.0 pupils per teacher in secondary school. These average values are unweighted, which means that each country is given the same weight within its region, regardless of the size of its population.

Average pupil/teacher ratio in secondary school by MDG region, circa 2006

MDG region	Pupil/teacher ratio
Developed countries	11.4
Commonwealth of Independent States	10.9
Eastern Asia	19.0
South-Eastern Asia	22.8
Oceania	14.8
Southern Asia	26.4
Western Asia	15.3
Northern Africa	19.0
Sub-Saharan Africa	25.8
Latin America and the Caribbean	16.6
World	18.0

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, May 2008. Regional and global averages are unweighted.

The data analyzed in this article can be downloaded from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics Data Centre, under Predefined Tables - Education - Table 11: Indicators on teaching staff at ISCED levels 0 to 3.

Related articles

External links

UNESCO Institute for Statistics Data Centre

Friedrich Huebler, 16 November 2008, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2008/11/ptr.html

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Pupil/teacher ratio in primary school

Global primary school attendance rates have been on a steady upward trend over the past years. As the world moves closer to the goal of universal primary education, the issue of education quality attracts increasing attention. One measure of education quality is the pupil/teacher ratio, the number of pupils per teacher in a school. Teachers of a large class can dedicate less time to each pupil than in a small class. For the pupils, crowded classrooms make it difficult to concentrate on the material and to learn. The results of overcrowding are lower academic achievement and increased dropout rates.

The map below displays the pupil/teacher ratio in primary school in 194 countries and territories for which data were available. The data were obtained from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. For 124 countries, the pupil/teacher ratios are from 2006, 12 countries have data from 2007, 42 countries have data from 2004 or 2005, and the remaining 16 countries have data from 1999 to 2003. For the map, all countries were divided into five groups:

Fewer than 10 pupils per teacher: 7 countries
10 to 19 pupils per teacher: 90 countries
20 to 29 pupils per teacher: 43 countries
30 to 39 pupils per teacher: 27 countries
40 or more pupils per teacher: 27 countries

Pupil/teacher ratio in primary school, circa 2006
Map of the world showing national pupil/teacher ratios in primary school

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, May 2008.

The lowest pupil/teacher ratios in primary school were observed in Tokelau (5.8), San Marino (6.3), Bermuda (8.3), Liechtenstein (8.4), Denmark (9.9), and Sweden and Cuba (10.0). Most developed countries, countries in Eastern Europe and former members states of the Soviet Union have pupil/teacher ratios between 10 and 19. Some countries in East and South-East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America also belong to this group, among them China, the world's most populous country, with a pupil/teacher ratio of 18.3. The majority of countries in Latin America, as well as some countries in Africa and Asia, have pupil/teacher ratios between 20 and 29.

Pupil/teacher ratios above 30 are common in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In 11 countries, primary school teachers have more than 50 pupils on average: Afghanistan (83.4), Mozambique (67.4), Rwanda (65.9), Chad (63.2), Mali (55.6), Congo (54.8), Burundi (54.2), Tanzania (53.1), Zambia (51.2), Bangladesh (50.9), and Cambodia (50.4). 22 of the 27 countries with 40 or more pupils per teacher are located in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The following table lists the average pupil/teacher ratio in primary school by Millennium Development Goal region. The highest pupil/teacher ratios exist in Sub-Saharan Africa (40.7) and Southern Asia (37.8). In contrast, the average pupil/teacher ratio in the developed countries is 13.7. In Western Asia (17.8), the Commonwealth of Independent States (17.9), and Oceania (19.8), the average pupil/teacher ratio is also below 20. The global average is 24.6 pupils per teacher in primary school. All regional and global averages are not weighted the population of each country; instead, each country is given the same weight within its region, regardless of the size of its population.

Pupil/teacher ratio in primary school by MDG region, circa 2006

MDG region	Pupil/teacher ratio
Developed countries	13.7
Commonwealth of Independent States	17.9
Eastern Asia	23.4
South-Eastern Asia	26.5
Oceania	19.8
Southern Asia	37.8
Western Asia	17.8
Northern Africa	24.4
Sub-Saharan Africa	40.7
Latin America and the Caribbean	21.3
World	24.6

External links

Friedrich Huebler, 26 October 2008 (edited 16 November 2006), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2008/10/ptr.html

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Adult literacy in 2007

The release of new literacy data by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) in May 2008 provides an opportunity to update an article on adult literacy rates that was published on this site in July 2007. The adult literacy rate is the share of literate persons in the population aged 15 years and older. Compared to the previous analysis, literacy data for more countries and for more recent years is available. An article on literacy data from the UIS provides additional information on the latest UIS database.

Before the update of May, the UIS database contained adult literacy rates for 136 countries and territories. For 10 countries, the most recent data was from 2005, for 30 countries from 2004, and for 5 countries from 2003. The remaining countries had data from 2002 or earlier years.

The UIS Data Centre now offers the adult literacy rate for 145 countries and territories. For 115 countries, data from 2007 is available. The map below displays the adult literacy rate for all countries with data.

Adult literacy rates by country, 2007
World map with adult literacy rates by country in 2007

World map with adult literacy rates by country in 2007

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, May 2008

The unweighted mean of the adult literacy rate is 81.2 percent. In 71 countries - including most of Eastern Europe, East and Southeast Asia, and Latin America - 90 percent or more of the adult population can read and write. The highest adult literacy rate, 99.8 percent, is reported for Cuba, Estonia and Latvia. Most countries without data are in the group of industrialized countries, where literacy rates are also likely to be above 90 percent. In 23 countries, the adult literacy rate is between 80 and 90 percent.

At the other extreme are eight countries with literacy rates below 40 percent: Mali (23.3), Chad (25.7), Afghanistan (28.0), Burkina Faso (28.7), Guinea (29.5), Niger (30.4), Ethiopia (35.9), and Sierra Leone (38.1). Another 16 countries have literacy rates between 40 and 60 percent: Benin (40.5), Senegal (42.6), Mozambique (44.4), Central African Republic (48.6), Cote d'Ivoire (48.7), Togo (53.2), Bangladesh (53.5), Pakistan (54.9), Liberia (55.5), Morocco (55.6), Bhutan (55.6), Mauritania (55.8), Nepal (56.5), Papua New Guinea (57.8), Yemen (58.9), and Burundi (59.3). Almost all of these countries are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Finally, the world's two largest countries in terms of population have very different literacy rates. In China, the adult literacy rate is 93.3 percent. In India, only 66 percent of the adult population can read and write.

The complete dataset with adult and youth literacy rates is available at the UIS Data Centre.

Related articles

Literacy data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics
UNESCO releases data from 2007 education survey
Adult literacy rates (article of July 2007)
Youth literacy rates (article of July 2007)
Disparity between adult and youth literacy
Disparity between male and female literacy rates
Adult literacy in Sub-Saharan Africa

External links

Friedrich Huebler, 15 June 2008, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2008/06/adult-literacy.html

Monday, February 11, 2008

Survival rate to the last grade of primary school

Since January 2008, the survival rate to the last grade of primary school is an official indicator to track progress toward the second UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG), which calls for universal primary education by the year 2015. The survival rate to the last grade is the percentage of a cohort of students who enter the first grade of primary education and who are expected to reach the last grade, regardless of repetition.

As an example, assume that primary school has four grades. Assume further that 100 children enter grade one and that 5 of these children drop out from school before they reach the last grade. The remaining 95 children reach grade four, with or without repeating one or more grades. In this case, the survival rate to the last grade is 95 / 100 = 95%.

As a previous article on this site explains, the survival rate to grade five was used an official indicator for MDG 2 until 2007. The survival rate to the last grade is a better indicator because it can be calculated for countries with fewer than five grades of primary school and because it is more in line with the goal of universal primary education.

The map below shows the most recent statistics on the survival rate to the last grade from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). In most cases, the statistics are from the year 2005. The next revision of the UIS database, expected in mid-2008, will contain survival rates for 2006.

Survival rate to the last grade of primary school, 2005
Map of the world showing national survival rates to the last grade of primary school, 2005

Map of the world showing national survival rates to the last grade of primary school, 2005

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, January 2008.

The current UIS database lists the survival rate to the last grade for 154 countries. The values range from 25% in Nauru and Uganda to 100% in Croatia, Cyprus, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Tajikistan. In addition to Nauru and Uganda, nine other countries have survival rates below 50%: Chad (26%), Rwanda (31%), Equatorial Guinea (33%), Malawi (34%), Mauritania (39%), Madagascar (43%), Turks and Caicos Islands (45%), and Benin and Mozambique (46%). In these eleven countries, more than half of all children who start attending primary school drop out before they reach the last grade.

Ten countries have survival rates in the range 50-60%, 20 each are in the range 60-70% and 70-80%, 26 countries have survival rates from 80% to 90%, and in 67 countries 90% or more of all primary school entrants reach the last grade. As the map shows, almost all countries with survival rates below 60% are located in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The following table compares average survival rates in the different MDG regions. In the group of developed countries, in the countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States (former Soviet Republics), and in Eastern Asia, almost all children reach the last grade of primary school. In contrast, fewer than two thirds of all first grade students in Sub-Saharan Africa reach the last grade. Survival rates are also relatively low in Northern Africa and Oceania (78%), and in Southern and South-Eastern Asia (84%). In Western Asia and Latin America, around 90% of all first grade students reach the last grade.

Survival rate to the last grade of primary school, 2005

MDG region	Survival rate to last grade (%)
	Male	Female	Total
Developed countries	99.1	99.2	99.2
Commonwealth of Independent States	99.6	99.0	99.4
Eastern Asia	98.9	98.8	98.8
South-Eastern Asia	84.5	84.3	84.4
Oceania	78.4	78.2	78.3
Southern Asia	84.5	83.0	83.8
Western Asia	88.7	86.9	88.0
Northern Africa	75.3	81.8	78.3
Sub-Saharan Africa	64.3	63.1	63.9
Latin America and the Caribbean	90.5	90.1	90.4
World	85.1	84.5	84.9

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre, January 2008.

The average survival rate to the last grade at the global level is 85%, with virtually no difference between boys and girls. However, gender disparities exist in some regions, in particular in Northern Africa, were girls, with an average survival rate of 82%, are more likely to continue their education to the last grade of primary school than boys, whose survival rate is 75%.

Related articles

External links

Friedrich Huebler, 11 February 2008, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2008/02/survival-rate-to-last-grade-of-primary.html

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Primary school attendance by state in India

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

Primary school attendance in India by state and territory, 2006
Map showing primary school attendance in India by state and territory, 2006

Map showing primary school attendance in India by state and territory, 2006

Data source: India DHS 2005-06

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

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

Primary school attendance in India by state and territory, 2006

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

Data source: India DHS 2005-06

Related articles

External links

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

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Youth literacy rates

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

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

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

Youth literacy rates by country
World map with youth literacy rate by country

World map with youth literacy rate by country

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

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

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

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

Related articles

External links

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

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Adult literacy rates

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

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

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

Adult literacy rates by country
World map with adult literacy rate by country

World map with adult literacy rate by country

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

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

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

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

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

Related articles

External links

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

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Updates to two Stata guides

Two Stata guides on this site have been updated. The guide to creating maps with Stata now covers the recently released module spmap by Maurizio Pisati, an update to his tmap module. Both spmap and tmap are free add-ons for the Stata statistical package. The guide to creating PNG images with Stata was also revised.

Map created with spmap in Stata: length of country names
Example map created with spmap in Stata

Friedrich Huebler, 1 April 2007, Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2007/04/updates-to-two-stata-guides.html

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

EFA Development Index: Assessing progress toward Education for All

Cover of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007

On 26 October 2006, UNESCO released the 2007 edition of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report. The annual EFA report assesses progress toward the goal of basic education for all children and adults by 2015. Individual countries are ranked with the EFA Development Index (EDI) that provides information for four of the six EFA goals:

Universal primary education
Adult literacy
Gender parity
Quality of education

Not covered in the EDI are two less easily quantifiable EFA goals:

Early childhood care and education
Learning needs of youth and adults

The EDI is calculated by taking the arithmetic mean of its four components:

Total primary net enrollment ratio (NER), the percentage of children of primary school age who are enrolled in primary or secondary school.
Adult literacy rate. In countries without data on adult literacy, the share of the adult population with at least complete primary education is used as a proxy.
Gender-specific EFA index (GEI). The GEI is a composite index that is calculated as the simple average of three gender parity indices (GPI):

GPI for the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in primary education: GPI = female GER / male GER.
GPI for the GER in secondary education: GPI = female GER / male GER.
GPI for the adult literacy rate: GPI = female literacy rate / male literacy rate.
If the calculation method for one of the three GPIs yields a value above 1 (because the female GER is greater than the male GER, or because the female literacy rate is greater than the male literacy rate), the calculation method is reversed. In such cases, the GPI is calculated as male GER / female GER, or as male literacy rate / female literacy rate.

Survival rate to grade 5 as a proxy indicator for the quality of education. The survival rate to grade 5 is the share of children entering grade 1 of primary school who eventually reach grade 5, with or without repeating a grade.

All four components of the EDI and the EDI itself have a theoretical range from 0 to 100% or, when expressed as a ratio, from 0 to 1. The complete set of indicators required to calculate the EDI was only available for 125 countries. The EDI for these 125 countries is indicated in the map below. The countries are divided into three groups:

High EDI: 0.95 or more
Medium EDI: 0.80 - 0.94
Low EDI: less than 0.80

EFA development index, 2004
Map of the world with EFA Development Index, 2004

Data source: UNESCO. 2006. Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007: Strong foundations - Early childhood care and education. Paris: UNESCO. Table 1, pages 200-201.

Of the 125 countries with data, 47 have a high EDI, which means they are close to or have already reached the goal of basic education for all children and adults. This group includes virtually all countries in Europe, as well as Armenia, Bahrain, Barbados, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Fiji, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Netherlands Antilles, Seychelles, South Korea, Tajikistan, and Trinidad and Tobago.

49 countries have a medium EDI between 0.80 and 0.94. This group includes most countries in Latin America and some countries in Africa and Asia.

Finally, 29 countries have a low EDI of less than 0.80. The twelve countries with the lowest EDI are all located in Sub-Saharan Africa. The lowest scoring countries are Chad (0.43), Niger (0.50), Burkina Faso (0.51), Mali (0.53), and Guinea (0.58). Countries with a low EDI outside of Africa include Bangladesh, Cambodia, Djibouti, India, Lao PDR, Nepal, and Saudi Arabia.

External links

Education for All (EFA) goals
EFA Global Monitoring Report web site
Download the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2007 (PDF, 5.8 MB)

Friedrich Huebler, 14 November 2006 (edited 12 October 2008), Creative Commons License
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2006/11/efa-development-index-assessing.html

Thursday, September 7, 2006

Primary school enrollment in 2004

At the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, all UN member states agreed on a set of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that should be reached by 2015. One of the goals aims at universal primary education by 2015, another goal at the elimination of gender disparity at all levels of education by 2015.

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) maintains an annually updated database with education statistics. With the help of this database, it is possible to track the progress toward the MDGs related to education. The latest statistics on primary school enrollment rates were released in September. The map below shows the primary school net enrollment rate (NER) in each country. The primary NER is defined as the share of children of primary school age who are enrolled in primary school.

Primary school net enrollment rate (NER) = Number of children of primary school age enrolled in primary school / Number of children of primary school age

For 127 of 165 countries with data, the NER in 2004 is listed in the UIS database. 7 countries have data for 2005, 14 countries have data for 2003, and 17 countries have data from the years 1999 to 2002. For 42 countries in the UIS database no primary school net enrollment rate is listed, including 12 countries with a total population of more than 10 million in 2005: China, Germany, Thailand, Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, North Korea, Cameroon, Chile, Angola, and the Czech Republic.

For all countries with data, the primary NER is indicated in the map below. Outside of Africa, most countries have NER values above 80 percent. In 7 countries, all in Africa or the Middle East, less than half of all primary-age children are enrolled in primary school: Djibouti (primary NER 32%), Niger (39%), Burkina Fast (41%), Sudan (43%), Guinea-Bissau (45%), Eritrea (46%), and Mali (47%).

Primary school net enrollment rate (NER), 2004
Map of the world with primary school net enrollment rates in 2004

Map of the world with primary school net enrollment rates in 2004

Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, global education database, October 2006.

The table below lists the average primary school NER at the level of the 10 Millennium Development Goal regions. To calculate the regional averages, the primary NER in each country was weighted by the country's population of primary school age. To calculate the average enrollment rate in Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the primary NER in Nigeria (60%, 21.6 million children of primary school age in 2005) therefore has a greater weight than the primary NER in Sao Tome and Principe (98%, 23,000 children of primary school age in 2005).

Primary school net enrollment rate, 2004

MDG region	NER (%)			Gender disparity
MDG region	Total	Male	Female	Difference male- female	GPI female/ male
Developed countries	95.9	96.6	95.1	1.5	0.98
Commonwealth of Independent States	89.6	89.7	89.4	0.3	1.00
Eastern Asia	98.6	98.8	98.4	0.4	1.00
South-eastern Asia	93.6	94.5	93.1	1.4	0.99
Oceania	86.4	86.8	85.5	1.3	0.98
Southern Asia	87.1	90.1	83.9	6.2	0.93
Western Asia	83.1	87.2	78.8	8.4	0.90
Northern Africa	93.7	95.2	92.2	3.0	0.97
Sub-Saharan Africa	67.2	69.6	64.7	4.9	0.92
Latin America and the Caribbean	94.0	94.4	94.3	0.1	1.00
World	86.0	87.8	83.7	4.1	0.95

GPI: gender parity index. - Data source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Global Education Database, October 2006.

In 6 of the 10 regions, the primary school NER is at or above 90%: developed countries (96%), Commonwealth of Independent States (90%), Eastern Asia (99%), South-eastern Asia (94%), Northern Africa (94%), and Latin America and the Caribbean (94%). In Oceania, the NER is 86%, in Southern Asia it is 87%, and in Western Asia 83%. In Sub-Saharan Africa, far fewer children go to school; in this region, the primary NER is 67%. At the global level, the primary school net enrollment rate is 86%.

In addition to the total NER, the table also lists the enrollment rates of boys and girls. In the last two columns, the difference between the male and female NER, and the gender parity index (GPI) are shown. The GPI is the ratio of the female to the male NER. If the GPI is below 1, more boys than girls are enrolled in school. According to UNESCO, a GPI between 0.98 and 1.02 is interpreted as gender parity. Of the 10 regions, 6 have already reached the Millennium Development Goal of gender parity: developed countries, Commonwealth of Independent States, Eastern Asia, South-eastern Asia, Oceania, and Latin America and the Caribbean. In Southern Asia (GPI 0.93), Western Asia (0.90), Northern Africa (0.97), and Sub-Saharan Africa (0.92), the enrollment of girls is lagging behind that of boys.

To summarize, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa face the greatest challenges on the path to reaching the Millennium Development Goals of universal primary education and gender parity. Southern and Western Asia have higher enrollment rates but are not close to the goal of gender parity.

Related articles

Millennium Development Goal regions and UNICEF regions

Friedrich Huebler, 7 September 2006 (edited 26 October 2006), Creative Commons License

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Millennium Development Goal regions and UNICEF regions

This site presents education statistics from the perspective of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The second of the eight Millennium Development Goals calls for universal primary education by 2015. The third MDG calls for the elimination of gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005 and at all levels of education by 2015.

To monitor progress toward the eight MDG, the UN has divided all countries into ten regional groupings, shown in the map below. The list of countries within each region is available on the official UN site for the MDG indicators. The abbreviations in the map's legend stand for these regions:

Developed countries (DEV)
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
Eastern Asia (EA)
South-eastern Asia (SEA)
Oceania (OCE)
Southern Asia (SA)
Western Asia (WA)
Northern Africa (NA)
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

Millennium Development Goal regions
Map of the world with Millennium Development Goal regions

Source: UN Statistics Division web site, August 2006

Future posts on global education statistics will refer to the MDG regions for regionally disaggregated data. In previous posts, for example on primary school enrollment, global education statistics were presented with the regional groupings used by UNICEF. UNICEF divides all countries into eight regions, shown in the following map. The countries within each region are listed on the UNICEF web site.

UNICEF regions
Map of the world with UNICEF regions

Source: UNICEF web site, August 2006

The abbreviations stand for these regions:

Industrialized countries (IND)
Central and Eastern Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS)
East Asia and the Pacific (EAP)
South Asia (SA)
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA)
West and Central Africa (WCA)
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

A comparison of the two maps shows that UNICEF combines three MDG regions (Eastern Asia, South-eastern Asia, Oceania) in a larger region called East Asia and the Pacific. Northern Africa is combined with Western Asia, Iran, and Sudan in the UNICEF region Middle East and North Africa. On the other hand, the MDG refer to one region for Sub-Saharan Africa, while UNICEF divides this region into Eastern and Southern Africa, and West and Central Africa. Three other regions are largely identical: the developed or industrialized countries, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Related articles

External links

Friedrich Huebler, 20 August 2006 (edited 26 March 2011), Creative Commons License.
Permanent URL: http://huebler.blogspot.com/2006/08/millennium-development-goal-regions.html

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Update to "Creating maps with Stata"

The guide to Creating maps with Stata has been updated. Users of Stata 9.1 or a more recent version can now convert shapefiles directly to Stata format with a new program called shp2dta. Read the guide to learn more.

Related articles

Friedrich Huebler, 13 April 2006, Creative Commons License