quality ed

Education Quality

The State of Education Series

March 2013

A Global Report

Summary

This presentation includes analysis of: Pupil-Teacher Ratios (PTRs) Repetition rates Primary Completion Rates (PCR) Learning Outcomes Youth Literacy Rates Adult Literacy Rates Gender/Income/Location disparities

Acronym Guide

Acronym Name

EAP East Asia and Pacific

ECA Europe and Central Asia

LAC Latin American and the Caribbean

MNA Middle East and North Africa

SAS South Asia

SSA Sub-Saharan Africa

WLD World (Global Aggregate)

PCR Primary Completion Rate

PTR Pupil-Teacher Ratio

GPI Gender Parity Index (female value/male value)

PISA Programme for International Student Assessment

TIMSS Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study

SACMEQ Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality

PASEC Programme d'Analyse des Systèmes Educatifs de la CONFEMEN

LLECE Latin American Laboratory for Assessment of the Quality of Education

Summary of Analysis

Primary Pupil-Teacher Ratios (PTRs) have declined from 26 pupils per teacher in 1999 to 24 in 2011. SSA and SAS have the highest PTRs (>40).

Repetition rates in primary schools have decreased from 5.3% in 1999 to 4.8% in 2011. LAC and SSA have higher repetition rates than other regions, and males have higher repetition rates than females.

Primary Completion Rates (PCRs) are highest in EAP, LAC and ECA, which all have PCRs above 95%. The global PCR lags behind at 90.3%. Low income is the greatest barrier to primary and secondary completion.

Adult and youth literacy rates have been improving over time, but around 10% of youth and 16% of adults are not literate. SAS and MNA have both improved literacy levels greatly over time.

Pupil-Teacher Ratios

Which regions have higher pre-primary pupil-teacher ratios? Globally, pre-primary

pupil-teacher ratios (PTRs) have remained steady since 1999 at around 20 pupils per teacher.

ECA has the fewest students per teacher: PTRs ranged from 8 to 10 students over time.

South Asia had the highest PTRs as of 2007 at 40 students per teacher. The next closest region was SSA at around 27 students per teacher in 2011.

South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have higher pre-primary pupil-teacher ratios.

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EAP ECA LAC MNA SAS SSA WLD

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013

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Which countries have the highest pre-primary pupil-teacher ratios? These countries

have between 35 and 57 pre-primary students per teacher.

Eight of the 10 countries are in SSA.

Less than 11% of children are enrolled in pre-primary education in 5 of these countries.

There are 22 countries with pre-primary PTRs less than 10. Most are in ECA or are high income countries.

10 Countries with the Highest Pre-Primary Pupil-Teacher Ratios

(2006-2012)

Pupil-Teacher Ratio. Pre-Primary

Net Enrolment Rate. Pre-Primary

1 Tanzania 56.6 33.2

2 Central African Rep. 44.3 5.6

3 Mali 44.0 3.4

4 India 40.3

5 Bolivia 38.8 32.1

6 Rwanda 38.0 10.5

7 Eritrea 37.9 9.1

8 Angola 37.1 65.9

9 Ghana 36.4 47.5

10 Burundi 35.4 6.9

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013 Note: Data is for the most recent available year; Black data are for 2011; Blue = 2010;

Purple = 2012; Data were not available for 58 of 214 countries.

Pupil-Teacher Ratio. Pre-Primary (2006-2012)

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, 2013Note: Data displayed is for the most recent available year

The maps displayed were produced by EdStats. The boundaries, colors, denominations and any other information shown on this map do not imply, on the part of the World Bank Group, any judgment on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. The maps are for reference only.

Which regions have higher primary pupil-teacher ratios?

Globally, primary pupil-teacher ratios (PTRs) have declined from 26 pupils per teacher in 1999 to 24 in 2011.

SSA has the highest PTR in 2011 at 43 pupils per teacher. SAS also has a high PTR in 2009 at 40.

All other regions have PTRs less than 23 with declining PTRs over time.

EAP has the fewest students per teacher in 2011 (18) followed by ECA at 19.

Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have the highest primary pupil-teacher ratios.

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Which countries have the highest primary pupil-teacher ratios? These countries

have between 51 and 81 primary students per teacher.

26 countries have more than 40 primary pupils per teacher. All of these countries are in SSA except Cambodia.

There are 10 countries with primary PTRs less than 10 and 46 countries with PTRs less than 15. Most are high income countries.

10 Countries with the Highest Primary Pupil-Teacher Ratios

(2006-2012)

Pupil-Teacher Ratio. Primary

Adjusted Net Enrolment Rate. Primary


2 Malawi 76.1 97.5

3 Chad 62.6 -

4 Rwanda 58.1 98.7

5 Zambia 58.0 92.7

6 Mozambique 55.4 89.8

7 Ethiopia 55.1 82.2

8 Burkina Faso 52.7 63.2

9 Guinea-Bissau 51.9 75.0

10 Tanzania 50.8 -


Data were not available for 35 of 214 countries.

Which countries have decreased primary pupil-teacher ratios the most?

These countries have decreased their primary pupil-teacher ratios by 12 to 18 pupils per teacher over time.

The most current PTR for all of these countries except Cameroon and Ethiopia is less than 35 students per teacher.

Despite great improvement, Ethiopia still has around 55 pupils per teacher.

10 Countries with the Most Improvement in Primary

Pupil-Teacher RatiosPercentage

Points Improved

1999-2002 PTR

Most current

PTR

% Improved

1 Gabon 18.1 42.6 24.5 42.5

2 Timor-Leste 17.0 47.2 30.2 36.0

3 Senegal 16.0 48.9 32.9 32.6

4 Equatorial Guinea 15.4 43.4 27.9 35.6

5 Cameroon 15.4 60.8 45.4 25.3

6 Lesotho 13.2 47.0 33.8 28.1

7 Jamaica 13.2 33.8 20.6 39.0

8 Macao SAR, China 12.6 27.5 14.8 45.9

9 Bhutan 12.5 37.9 25.4 33.0

10 Ethiopia 12.3 67.3 55.1 18.2

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013; Notes: Black data in “Most Current” column is 2011 data; Blue is 2010 data;


Pupil-Teacher Ratio. Primary (2006-2012)



Which regions have higher secondary pupil-teacher ratios?

Globally, secondary pupil-teacher ratios (PTRs) have decreased slightly from 18 pupils per teacher in 1999 to 17 in 2011.

SAS has the highest PTR in 2011 at 26.4 pupils per teacher. This is a sharp decrease from 34 in 1999.

SSA’s PTR is also consistently higher than most regions over time.

ECA has the fewest students per teacher in 2011 (11.7) followed by EAP at 16 and LAC at 17.

Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have the highest secondary pupil-teacher ratios.

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2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

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34



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Which countries have the highest secondary pupil-teacher ratios? These countries

have between 35 and 67 secondary pupils per teacher.

Eight of the 10 countries are in SSA.

Despite larger class sizes, less than 15% of children are enrolled in secondary education in CAR, Angola, and Niger.

There are 34 countries with PTRs less than 10. Most are high income countries.

10 Countries with the Highest Secondary Pupil-Teacher Ratios

(2006-2012)

Pupil-Teacher Ratio. Secondary

Net Enrolment Rate. Secondary


2 Malawi 42.1 27.5

3 Nepal 40.9 -

4 Ethiopia 40.3 -

5 Eritrea 39.5 28.6

6 Angola 38.7 11.5

7 Guinea-Bissau 37.3 -

8 Tanzania 35.2 -

9 Philippines 34.8 61.6

10 Niger 34.7 10.2


Green = 2009; Maroon = 2008; Data were not available for 58 countries.

Which countries have decreased secondary pupil-teacher ratios the most? These countries have

decreased their secondary pupil-teacher ratios by 7 to 18 students/teacher over time.

After the large decreases, these countries have current PTRs between 14 and 25 pupils per teacher except Malawi (42) and Eritrea (40).

5 countries increased PTRs by more than 10 pupils per teacher over time: Nepal, Tanzania, Solomon Islands, Angola, and Guinea-Bissau.

10 Countries with the Most Improvement in

Secondary Pupil-Teacher RatiosPercentage

Points Improved

1999-2002PTR

Most current

PTR

% Improved

1 Malawi 17.7 59.8 42.1 29.6

2 Bhutan 11.9 32.4 20.5 36.6

3 Chile 10.7 32.6 21.9 32.8

4 Eritrea 9.8 49.3 39.5 19.9

5 Macao SAR, China 9.2 24.0 14.8 38.4

6 Vietnam 7.7 26.3 18.6 29.4

7 Belize 7.5 23.8 16.3 31.5

8 Mongolia 7.4 21.9 14.5 33.7

9 Cape Verde 7.3 24.5 17.2 29.7

10 India 7.0 32.3 25.3 21.6

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013 Notes: Data were not available for 83 of 214 countries.

Pupil-Teacher Ratio. Secondary (2006-2012)



Repetition Rates

Which regions have the highest primary repetition rates?

Globally, the percent of repeaters in primary schools has decreased from 5.3% in 1999 to 4.8% in 2011.

Repetition rates have consistently been lowest in ECA and EAP (less than 2.3% over time).

SSA and LAC have had the highest levels of repetition over time, but both regions improved from around 12% to around 8% over time.

SAS is the only region with a higher current repetition rate (4.9% in 2009) than in 1999 (4.7%).

Levels of primary repetition are higher in LAC and SSA and lower in ECA and EAP.

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Which countries have the highest repetition rates in primary?

One third of students repeat in Burundi and almost ¼ repeat in Comoros.

All countries on the list are in SSA. 17 out of the top 20 are also in SSA. Timor-Leste, Iraq, and Suriname are the exceptions.

Six countries in the list have decreased repetition over time: Madagascar, Congo, Lesotho, Togo, Chad, and Comoros.

Burundi’s repetition rate has increased by almost 10 percentage points over time from 26.3% in 2002 to 36.2% in 2011.

10 Countries with the Highest Primary Repetition Rates

(2006-2012)

1 Burundi 36.2

2 Comoros 24.4

3 Central African Republic 22.6

4 Chad 21.6

5 Togo 21.5

6 Lesotho 20.0

7 Malawi 19.6

8 Madagascar 19.4

9 Equatorial Guinea 19.3

10 Congo, Rep. 18.4

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013 Note: Data were for the most recent available year; Black data is from 2011;

Blue = 2010; Data were not available for 56 of 214 countries.

Which countries have decreased primary repetition rates the most?

These countries have decreased their primary repetition rates by 8 to 22 percentage points over time.

9 of 10 countries are in SSA.

6 countries have more than halved their repetition rates.

Despite great improvement, 7 of the countries have current repetition rates higher than 10%.

10 Countries with the Largest Decreases in Primary Repetition Rates

Percentage Points

Decreased

1999-2002

Repetition Rate

Most current

Repetition Rate

% Decreased

1 Rwanda 22.3 36.1 13.8 61.8

2 Mozambique 15.4 23.0 7.7 66.7

3 Sao Tome and Principe

14.4 25.8 11.4 55.9

4 Cameroon 12.7 25.2 12.5 50.3

5 Madagascar 11.0 30.5 19.4 36.2

6 Benin 10.8 21.6 10.8 49.8

7 Senegal 10.7 13.6 3.0 78.1

8 Mauritania 10.6 14.1 3.5 75.5

9 Nepal 9.6 21.6 12.0 44.6

10 Guinea 8.2 20.8 12.7 39.2

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013 Notes: Data were not available for 82 of 214 countries.

Primary Repetition Rate (%) (2006-2012)



Do females repeat more than males in primary schools?

Globally, there is less than half a percentage point difference between male/female repetition rates. Males repeat slightly more than females.

Males also repeat more than females in all regions except for ECA.

The greatest gender disparity is in MNA at 2.5 percentage points.

In SSA, there is almost no difference in repetition rates between males and females.

Males repeat more than females in all regions except ECA.

EAP ECA LAC MNA SAS SSA WLD0

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7

8

9

10

Male Female

Per

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in p

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All

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Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013Notes: SAS data is 2009; All other data is for 2011.

Which countries have the highest repetition rates in secondary?

20 to 26% of all secondary students are repeaters in these countries.


Togo’s repetition rates has increased by 6 percentage points over time. Benin, Chad, and Burkina Faso also had worsening repetition rates.

Burundi improved its repetition rate by over 12 percentage points.

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10 Countries with the Highest Secondary Repetition Rates

(2006-2012)

1 Togo 26.1

2 Burkina Faso 25.8

3 Burundi 24.2

4 Congo, Rep. 23.6

5 Benin 23.4

6 Sao Tome and Principe 21.3

7 Iraq 21.3

8 Mali 19.9

9 Chad 19.8

10 Cape Verde 19.7

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013; Notes: Data displayed is for the most recent available year. Blue data is for 2007; Black =

2011; Green = 2009. Data were not available for 58 of 214 countries.

Which countries have decreased secondary repetition rates the most? These countries

have decreased their secondary repetition rates by 7 to 12 percentage points over time.

4 countries have more than halved their repetition rates.

Despite great improvement, 6 of the 10 countries have current repetition rates higher than 10%.

10 Countries with the Largest Decreases in Secondary Repetition

RatesPercentage

Points Decreased

1999-2002 Repetition

Rate

Most current

Repetition Rate

% Decreased

1 Burundi 12.4 36.6 24.2 33.9

2 Eritrea 10.3 20.3 10.1 50.5

3 Guinea 9.2 23.7 14.6 38.6

4 Sri Lanka 8.5 9.2 0.7 92.8

5 Rwanda 8.2 11.8 3.6 69.8

6 Mozambique 7.7 21.5 13.7 36.0

7 Ethiopia 7.7 17.1 9.4 45.0

8 Guinea-Bissau 7.7 20.8 13.1 36.8

9 Bhutan 7.4 10.7 3.4 68.6

10 Congo, Rep. 7.2 30.8 23.6 23.4

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013 Note: Data were not available for 93 of 214 countries.

Secondary Repetition Rate (%) (2006-2012)



Completion

Which regions have higher primary completion rates?

90.3% of primary school age students completed primary school in 2011. This is a 9.3 percentage point increase since 1999.

All regions have improved their primary completion rates (PCR) over time.

SAS had the largest increase at 23.3 percentage points, but still lags behind other regions with 88% of students completing primary in 2011.

(continued on next slide)

Primary Completion Rates have been increasing in all regions since 1999.

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Which regions have higher primary completion rates? (continued)

SSA also improved greatly over time (17.8 percentage points) but lagged far behind other regions in 2011 with a 70% PCR.

In 2011, LAC had the highest share of primary school age students completing primary school at 101.6%. PCRs over 100% are typically due to over/under age students entering the last grade of primary or repetition.

Primary Completion Rates have been increasing in all regions since 1999.

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Which countries have the lowest primary completion rates?

Less than half of primary school age children complete primary school in the top 7 countries.


All the countries on the list have increased their PCRs over time except Uganda and Equatorial Guinea.

Niger and Mali have increased their PCRs the most over time – 25 and 21 percentage points respectively.

29

10 Countries with the Lowest Primary Completion Rates

(2006-2012)

1 Eritrea 38.0

2 Chad 38.2


4 Burkina Faso 45.1

5 Djibouti 45.8

6 Niger 46.2

7 Angola 46.6

8 Equatorial Guinea 51.7

9 Uganda 54.9

10 Mali 55.4

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013Notes: Data are for the most recent available data year; Black data are for

2011; Blue are for 2010; Data were not available for 45 countries.

Which countries have increased primary completion rates the most?

These countries have increased their primary completion rates by 31 to 43 percentage points over time.

5 countries have more than doubled their primary completion rates.

Despite great improvement, 7 of the 10 countries have current primary completion rates less than 75%.


Primary Completion RatesPercentage

Points Improved

1999-2002PCR

Most currentPCR

% Improved

1 Bhutan 42.9 52.2 95.1 82.1

2 Zambia 40.8 62.5 103.3 65.3

3 Rwanda 40.0 29.6 69.6 135.0

4 Guinea-Bissau 37.9 29.7 67.6 127.4

5 Sao Tome and Principe

37.6 61.6 99.1 61.0

6 Madagascar 36.1 36.8 72.9 98.4

7 Burundi 34.9 27.3 62.1 127.8

8 Mozambique 33.9 22.3 56.2 151.7

9 Ethiopia 32.4 31.7 64.0 102.3

10 Mauritania 31.3 43.5 74.8 71.8

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013 Note: Data were not available for 68 of 214 countries.

Primary Completion Rate (2006-2012)



Are more boys completing primary school than girls?

Globally, more males are completing primary school than females. The difference between male/female PCRs has shrunk from 6 percentage points in 1999 to 1.8 in 2011.

In most regions, more males complete primary than females, but in LAC and EAP, the reverse is true.

EAP's female PCR was 2.4 percentage points higher than the male PCR. LAC’s was 0.7 percentage points higher for females.


Globally and in most regions, more males complete primary school than females.


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Male Female

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Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013Note: All data are for 2011 except EAP and SAS (2010).

Are more boys completing primary school than girls? (continued)

SSA has the largest gender disparity in PCRs with 74% of boys completing vs. 67% of girls in 2011.

MNA also has a large gender disparity at 6 percentage points difference between the genders.

SAS had a large gender disparity in 1999 (15 percentage points) but decreased the difference to 2.7 percentage points in 2010.

Globally and in most regions, more males complete primary school than females.


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105

Male Female

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Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013Note: All data are for 2011 except EAP and SAS (2010).

Primary Completion Rate. Female (2006-2012)



Gender Parity Index for Primary Completion Rate

(2006-2012)



Gender Parity

Female Bias

Male Bias

Are there gender, income or location disparities in primary completion rates?

Gender disparities exist in all regions in PCRs, but they are surpassed by income disparities in all regions except for ECA.

The greatest disparities exist in SSA, where there is a 55 percentage point difference between the PCRs of top and bottom quintile students. This compares to a 33 point difference between urban and rural, and 9 point between genders.

In EAP and ECA, more rural students complete primary school than urban students.2

Low income is the greatest source of disparity in primary completion rates in all regions except ECA.

EAP ECA LAC MNA SAS SSA-5

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Source: Estimated by Porta (2011) using data from Demographic and Health Sur-veys, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, and Living Standards

Measurement Studies for 1985-2007

Are there gender, income or location disparities in secondary completion rates?

Low income is the greatest source of disparity in secondary completion rates in all regions. The disparity is greatest in SAS (60 percentage points), LAC (44), and SSA (40).

Rural residence is a source of disparity in SAS (29 percentage point disparity), LAC (25), and SSA (22).

A slightly higher percentage of females complete secondary in ECA and LAC, but the opposite is true in other regions.2

Income is the greatest source of disparity in secondary completion rates in all regions.

EAP ECA LAC MNA SAS SSA-10

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15

20

25

30

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45

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Source: Estimated by Porta (2011) using data from Demographic and Health Sur-veys, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, and Living Standards

Measurement Studies for 1985-2007

Lower Secondary Graduation Rate (2006-2012)



Learning Outcomes

Where are the greatest income disparities in PISA math scores?

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Source: Porta and Mcdonald based on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2009) data, 2010

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Richer students have higher scores in all but 3 countries – Iceland, Norway, and Azerbaijan. The greatest income disparities are in 5 Latin American countries –

Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Colombia.

5th graders in Gabon (61.4) and Cameroon (53.4) scored the highest on the French language assessment.

Gabon’s mean score almost doubled Benin and Chad’s scores (31.6 and 31.7 respectively).

Only three countries scored higher than 40 on a 100 point scale.

Mean Reading Scores vary greatly across Francophone African countries.

How do reading levels vary between African countries?

Source: Programme d'Analyse des Systèmes Educatifs de la CONFEMEN in EdStats, August 2011.

Benin

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Gabon

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Tanzania, Seychelles, and Mauritius had the highest reading scores in 2007.

Mauritius and Tanzania both improved their scores, but Seychelles’ score was lower than in 2000.

Some countries have large disparities between genders, but in these cases, females have higher scores than males (Seychelles, Mauritius and Botswana).

Malawi and Zambia have had the lowest scores over time.

Mean reading scores of 6th grade students vary greatly between Anglophone African countries.

How do reading levels vary between African countries?

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420

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500

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2000 Total Total 2007

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Source: Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) in EdStats, August 2011; Note: Zimbabwe 2000 is 1995 figure.

How do reading scores vary between income groups in African countries?

In all SACMEQ countries, students from the lowest income quintile have lower reading scores than students in the highest income quintile, but the scale of income disparity varies greatly.

South Africa has the largest disparity between richest and poorest followed by Namibia.

Lesotho, Mozambique, and Malawi seem to have the less of a disparity between income groups in reading scores.

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500

525

550

575

600

625

Average score

Source: Filmer using Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) 2000 database

Mea

n S

core

on

Rea

din

g A

sses

smen

t

Poorer students have lower mean reading scores in all Anglophone African countries.

El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Peru, Guatemala, and Colombia are within 5 percentage points of gender parity. Female scores are higher than male scores in these countries.

Uruguay has the largest difference between male/female reading scores with a 19.6 percentage point male bias.

Panama (15.9), Brazil (15.7), Cuba (15.2), and the Dominican Rep. (15.1) also have large male biases.

Source: Latin American Laboratory for Assessment of the Quality of Education (LLECE SERCE) in StatPlanet, August 2011

Have LAC countries reached gender parity in reading levels?

Difference between Male/Female Mean Scores on the 6th Grade Reading Assessment (2006)

In all countries, mean scores for rural students are lower than for urban students.

The greatest location disparity is in Peru (79) followed by Mexico (58).

Cuba has the smallest disparity between rural/urban areas (13) followed by Nicaragua (21).

The scale of disparity between urban/rural scores is much higher than the disparity between male/female scores.

Source: Latin American Laboratory for Assessment of the Quality of Education (LLECE SERCE) in StatPlanet, August 2011

Does rural/urban residence impact 6th grade reading levels in LAC?

Difference between Urban/Rural Mean Scores on the 6th Grade Reading Assessment (2006)

Youth Literacy

Have youth literacy rates improved over time?

Global youth literacy rates have improved from 83.3% (1985-2004) to 89.6% (2005-2010) or 6.3 percentage points.

Still, around 10% of youth emerge from education systems around the world without basic literacy skills.

All regions showed improvement in youth literacy rates over time.

SAS showed the most dramatic improvement from 58% to 79.5% -- a 21 percentage point improvement.


Youth literacy rates have been increasing in all regions over time.


55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

1985-19941995-20042005-2010

Yo

uth

lit

erac

y ra

te (

%).

To

tal


ECA has consistently had the highest youth literacy rate ranging from 98-99%.

Over time, EAP has almost caught up to ECA’s high youth literacy levels and LAC trails closely behind. More than 97% of youth are literate in these regions.

More 25% of youth are illiterate in SSA, but this is a 6 percentage point improvement over 1985-1995.

Have youth literacy rates improved over time? (continued)

Youth literacy rates have been increasing in all regions over time.


55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

1985-19941995-20042005-2010

Yo

uth

lit

erac

y ra

te (

%).

To

tal


Which countries have the lowest youth literacy rates?

Less than half of youth are literate in Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad.

All of the countries with the lowest literacy rates are in SSA.

Of the 142 countries with data, 22 countries have youth literacy rates less than 75%. All are in SSA except for Pakistan, Haiti, and Papua New Guinea.

89 countries have youth literacy rates higher than 95%.

10 Countries with the Lowest Youth Literacy Rates

(2006-2010)

1 Burkina Faso 39.3

2 Mali 44.3

3 Chad 47.0

4 Benin 55.0

5 Ethiopia 55.0

6 Sierra Leone 59.4

7 Guinea 63.4

8 Madagascar 64.9

9 Congo, Dem. Rep. 65.0

10 Senegal 65.0

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013Note: Data were not available for 72 countries. Most recent data year is

displayed; Black = 2010; Green = 2009; Blue = 2007.

Which countries have increased youth literacy rates the most over time?

These countries have increased their youth literacy rates by 10 to 16 percentage points over time.


Despite great improvement, only 4 of 10 countries have youth literacy rates higher than 75%.

Four countries’ rates worsened by more than 2% over the same period: Iraq, Madagascar, Haiti, and Congo, Dem. Rep.

10 Countries with the Most Improvement in Youth Literacy Rates

Percentage Points

Improved

1999-2004 Rate

2006-2010Rate

% Improved

1 Guinea 16.3 47.1 63.4 34.6

2 Senegal 15.9 49.1 65.0 32.4

3 Gambia, The 14.1 52.6 66.7 26.8

4 Bangladesh 13.4 63.6 77.0 21.1

5 Nepal 13.0 70.1 83.1 18.5

6 Guinea-Bissau 12.6 59.5 72.1 21.2

7 Sierra Leone 11.5 47.9 59.4 24.0

8 Eritrea 11.4 77.9 89.3 14.6

9 Ghana 10.1 70.7 80.8 14.3

10 Mozambique 9.9 61.9 71.8 16.0

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013 Notes: Data are most current available year within the time period;


Youth Literacy Rate. Total (2006-2010)



Is there disparity between genders in youth literacy rates?

Globally, there is still a gender gap in youth literacy rates, though the gap has been shrinking over time.

There was a 8.6% difference between male and female youth literacy rates during 1985-1994.

The gender gap shrunk by 41.5% to 5.0% during 2005-2010. 92% of males were literate compared to 87% of females.

Fewer females emerge from education systems with basic literacy skills than males.

1985-1994 1995-2004 2005-201070

75

80

85

90

95

87.6

90.4

92.2

79.0

83.9

87.1

Male Female


Yo

uth

Lit

erac

y R

ate

(%)

Are gender disparities in youth literacy rates decreasing?

Gender disparities between male and female youth literacy rates have decreased in all regions.

EAP, ECA, and LAC have achieved almost perfect gender parity (1.0), while MNA, SAS, and SSA lag behind.

SAS and MNA have improved greatly over time: They moved 0.17 and 0.14 closer to gender parity.

Progress in SSA has been slower with only 0.09 improvement.

Gender disparities in youth literacy rates have decreased over time in all regions.

1985-1994 1995-2004 2005-20100.65

0.70

0.75

0.80

0.85

0.90

0.95

1.00

1.05

0.90

0.93

0.95



Gen

der

Par

ity In

dex

(GP

I) fo

r Y

outh

Lite

racy

Rat

e

Gender Parity Index for Youth Literacy Rate

(2006-2010)



Gender Parity

Male Bias

Male Bias

Male Bias

Which countries have the lowest female literacy rates? The 20 lowest female

youth literacy rates were all found in Sub-Saharan African countries except for Pakistan.

Only 1/3 of female youth are literate in Burkina Faso and Mali.

Less than half of female youth are literate in the top 5 countries.

10 Countries with the Lowest Female Youth Literacy Rates

(2006-2010)

1 Burkina Faso 33.1

2 Mali 33.9

3 Chad 40.6

4 Benin 44.6

5 Ethiopia 47.0

6 Sierra Leone 50.1

7 Senegal 56.2

8 Guinea 57.0


10 Pakistan 61.5

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013; Note: Data points are the most recent year available: Green = 2009; Blue =

2007; Black = 2010; Data were not available for 71 countries.

Which countries have increased female youth literacy rates the most over time?

These countries have increased their female youth literacy rates by 14 to 23 percentage points over time.

8 of 10 countries are in SSA and 2 are in SAS.

Despite great improvement, only 4 of 10 countries have female youth literacy rates higher than 75%.

Haiti’s female youth literacy rate worsened over the period by 10 percentage points.


Female Youth Literacy RatesPercentage

Points Improved

1999-2004 Rate

2006-2010Rate

% Improved

1 Guinea 22.9 34.1 57.0 67.2

2 Gambia, The 20.3 41.4 61.7 49.1

3 Guinea-Bissau 19.4 45.9 65.3 42.3

4 Nepal 18.2 60.1 78.4 30.3

5 Bangladesh 18.2 60.3 78.5 30.3

6 Chad 17.3 23.2 40.6 74.6

7 Eritrea 17.2 69.5 86.7 24.7

8 Senegal 15.2 41.0 56.2 37.2

9 Mozambique 15.0 50.0 65.1 30.0

10 Ghana 14.4 65.5 79.9 22.0



Youth Literacy Rate. Female (2006-2010)



Adult Literacy

Have adult literacy rates improved over time?

Global adult literacy rates improved from 75.7% to 84.1% -- an 8 percentage point increase over time.

Still, 16% of adults have emerged from education systems without basic literacy skills.

All regions showed improvement in adult literacy rates, but MNA improved the most from 56% to 76% -- a 20 percentage point increase over time.


Adult literacy rates have been increasing over the years in all regions.


45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

1001985-19941995-20042005-2010

Ad

ult

lit

erac

y ra

te (

%).

To

tal


Have adult literacy rates improved over time? (continued)

ECA has consistently had the highest adult literacy rates (95%+).

More than 1/3 of adults are illiterate in SAS and SSA, but SAS improved from 46% to 62% – a 16 percentage point increase.

SSA has improved more slowly than SAS at 8.4 percentage points of improvement over time.

Adult literacy rates have been increasing over the years in all regions.


45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

1001985-19941995-20042005-2010

Ad

ult

lit

erac

y ra

te (

%).

To

tal


Which countries have the lowest adult literacy rates?

9 of the 10 countries with the lowest adult literacy rates are in SSA. Haiti is the exception.

Less than one third of adults are literate in Mali and Burkina Faso.

Of the 149 countries with data, 20 countries have adult literacy rates less than 60% and 43 countries have adult literacy rates less than 75%.

75 countries have adult literacy rates higher than 90%.

10 Countries with the Lowest Adult Literacy Rates

(2006-2010)

1 Burkina Faso 28.7

2 Mali 31.1

3 Chad 34.5

4 Ethiopia 39.0

5 Guinea 41.0

6 Sierra Leone 42.1

7 Benin 42.4

8 Haiti 48.7

9 Senegal 49.7

10 Gambia, The 50.0

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013Note: Data were not available for 71 countries. Data are for the most recent

available year. Purple = 2006; Blue = 2007; Green = 2009; Black = 2010.

Which countries have increased adult literacy rates the most over time?

These countries have increased their adult literacy rates by 9 to 21 percentage points over time.


Despite great improvement, at least 30% of adults were illiterate in all these countries except Sudan.

Haiti’s adult literacy rate worsened by 10 percentage points, and Madagascar’s by 6 percentage points.

10 Countries with the Most Improvement in Adult Literacy Rates

Percentage Points

Improved

1999-2004 Rate

2006-2010Rate

% Improved

1 Timor-Leste 20.7 37.6 58.3 55.1

2 Eritrea 15.3 52.5 67.8 29.1

3 Gambia, The 13.1 36.8 50.0 35.7

4 Guinea-Bissau 12.8 41.4 54.2 31.0

5 Nepal 11.7 48.6 60.3 24.1

6 Guinea 11.3 29.7 41.0 38.2

7 Senegal 10.4 39.3 49.7 26.5

8 Sudan 9.7 61.3 71.1 15.8

9 Ghana 9.4 57.9 67.3 16.2

10 Bangladesh 9.3 47.5 56.8 19.6

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013; Notes: Data are most current available year within the time period;


Adult Literacy Rate. Total (2006-2010)



Is there disparity between genders in adult literacy rates?

Globally, there is still a gender gap in adult literacy rates, though the gap has been shrinking over time.

There was a 12.6% difference between male (82%) and female (69.4%) adult literacy rates during 1985-1994.

The gender gap shrunk by 29% to 8.9% during 2005-2010. 88.6% of males were literate compared to 79.7% of females.

Fewer adult females have basic literacy skills, but the gender gap has decreased over time.

1985-1994 1995-2004 2005-20100

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

82.0

86.988.6

69.4

76.979.7

Male Female

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, Mar. 2013

Ad

ult

Lit

erac

y R

ate

(%)

Have gender disparities in adult literacy rates decreased over time?

Gender disparities in adult literacy rates have decreased over time in all regions.

ECA and LAC have achieved gender parity with GPIs at 0.98.

MNA, SAS, and EAP have made the most progress by moving 0.16, 0.13, and 0.13 closer to 1.0 (gender parity) respectively.

Progress in SSA has been slower with only 0.09 improvement.

SAS, SSA, and MNA are furthest from gender parity in adult literacy.

All regions are moving closer to gender parity in adult literacy rates.

1985-1994 1995-2004 2005-20100.50

0.55

0.60

0.65

0.70

0.75

0.80

0.85

0.90

0.95

1.00

1.05

0.85 0.88 0.90



Gen

der

Par

ity In

dex

(GP

I) fo

r A

dult

Lite

racy

Rat

e

Which countries have the lowest female literacy rates? Less than one quarter

of females are literate in the top 3 countries – Mali, Burkina Faso, and Chad. Less than one third of females are literate in the top 7 countries.

All the countries on the list are in SSA except Pakistan.

Of the 144 countries with data, 19 countries have female adult literacy rates less than 50% and 70 countries have rates higher than 90%.

10 Countries with the Lowest Female Adult Literacy Rates

(2006-2010)

1 Mali 20.3

2 Burkina Faso 21.6

3 Chad 24.2

4 Ethiopia 28.9

5 Guinea 30.0

6 Benin 30.3

7 Sierra Leone 31.4

8 Senegal 38.7

9 Pakistan 40.3

10 Gambia, The 40.4

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics in EdStats, March 2013Note: Data were not available for 71 countries. Data are for the most recent

available year. Blue = 2007; Green = 2009; Black = 2010.

Which countries have increased female adult literacy rates the most over time?

These countries have increased their female adult literacy rates by 11 to 23 percentage points over time.

Six of the countries are in SSA; 2 are in SAS.

Despite great improvement, more than 1/3 of women are illiterate in all of these countries except Saudi Arabia.

Haiti’s rate worsened by 10.3 percentage points over time.


Female Adult Literacy RatesPercentage

Points Improved

1999-2004Rate

2006-2010Rate

% Improved

1 Timor-Leste 23.0 30.0 53.0 76.5

2 Eritrea 17.3 40.2 57.5 43.1

3 Gambia, The 15.4 25.1 40.4 61.4

4 Nepal 13.5 34.9 48.3 38.6

5 Guinea-Bissau 13.1 27.5 40.6 47.7

6 Saudi Arabia 12.1 69.3 81.3 17.4

7 Guinea 11.8 18.2 30.0 64.7

8 Ghana 11.4 49.8 61.2 22.9

9 Bangladesh 11.4 40.8 52.2 27.9

10 Chad 11.4 12.8 24.2 89.0



Adult Literacy Rate. Female (2006-2010)



This presentation utilizes the following data sources:1) UNESCO Institute for Statistics data in the EdStats Query

The presentation was created with the most recent UIS data release that included 2011 data for most indicators/countries and 2012 data for 3 countries: Kazakhstan, Sao Tome and Principe, and Ghana.

Indicators were calculated by UIS according to definitions available in the EdStats Query.

2) Income/Gender/Location Disparity slides were based on data extracted from: Demographic and Health Surveys, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, and Living

Standards Measurement Studies for 1985-2007; Reports were generated through ADePT Edu by Emilio Porta (2011).

Porta, Emilio, Gustavo Arcia, Kevin Macdonald, Sergiy Radyakin, and Misha Lokshin. 2011. Assessing Sector Performance and Inequality in Education. Washington, DC: World Bank.

3) Learning Outcome Data from the EdStats Query: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality

(SACMEQ) Latin American Laboratory for Assessment of the Quality of Education (LLECE

SERCE) Programme d'Analyse des Systèmes Educatifs de la CONFEMEN (PASEC)

Data Sources

http://go.worldbank.org/0PX550GYX0

http://go.worldbank.org/R231C7F6T0

http://go.worldbank.org/R231C7F6T0

The State of Education Series

The following State of Education presentations are available on the EdStats website:

Educational Levels: Pre-Primary Education Primary Education Secondary Education Tertiary Education

Topics: Access Quality Expenditures Gender Literacy

http://go.worldbank.org/WBYFTX6CM0

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTEDSTATS/Resources/3232763-1194387694925/Pre-PrimaryEd.zip

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTEDSTATS/Resources/3232763-1194387694925/PrimaryEd.zip

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTEDSTATS/Resources/3232763-1194387694925/SecondaryEd.zip

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTEDSTATS/Resources/3232763-1194387694925/TertiaryEd.zip

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTEDSTATS/Resources/3232763-1194387694925/access.zip

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTEDSTATS/Resources/3232763-1194387694925/quality.zip

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTEDSTATS/Resources/3232763-1194387694925/expenditure.zip

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTEDSTATS/Resources/3232763-1194387694925/GenderEd.zip

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTEDSTATS/Resources/3232763-1194387694925/AdultLiteracy.zip

quality ed

Business

studentsper teacher

teacher in2011

teacher in1999

primary pupils perteacher

primary completion rates

primary schools

ofthese countries

countries havemore