#YouthStats: Education

1 out of 6 adolescents is not in school, totaling 65 million in 2013. One third of these live in South and West Asia, another third in sub-Saharan Africa, where there are more adolescents out of school today than in 2000.
[UNESCO, UIS: Out of School Children Data Release 2015: http://goo.gl/nsrZ54]

The number of children and adolescents who are out of school is on the rise, and grew to 124 million in 2013. [UNESCO, UIS: Out of School Children Data Release 2015: http://goo.gl/nsrZ54]

According to UNESCO UIS estimates, 24 million children will never enter a classroom. Half of all out-of-school children in sub-Saharan Africa will never enrol. Girls are the most disadvantaged, particularly in South and West Asia, where 80% of out-of-school girls are unlikely to start school, compared to just 16% for boys. [UNESCO, UIS: Out of School Children Data Release 2015: http://goo.gl/nsrZ54]

In 23 countries, more than 75% of adolescents have not completed lower secondary school. [UNESCO, 2011, http://bit.ly/1Lop5wW]

In 8 countries, more than 50% of young people aged 20-24 years have less than 2 years of schooling. [UNESCO, 2011, http://bit.ly/1Lop5wW]

62.9 million adolescents of lower secondary school age remain out-of-school. [UNESCO, 2014, http://bit.ly/1QQx7mO]

Each day, young women and children spend 140 million hours collecting water, which significantly diminishes their access to education and labor markets. [UN WOMEN]

225 million youth, or 20% of all youth in the developing world are not in education, employment or training. [World Bank, ILO, http://bit.ly/1CtDAZ6]

The primary school net enrollment ratio was 84% in 1999 and is estimated to reach 93% in 2015. [UNESCO, EFA Global Monitoring Report “EDUCATION FOR ALL 2000-2015: Achievements and Challenges”, 2015, p.xii, http://goo.gl/ppA8ld]

Gross enrollment ratios are much higher at the lower secondary level, which is commonly viewed as an extension of compulsory primary schooling, than they are at the upper secondary level. [UNESCO, World Atlas Gender Equality in Education, 2012, pg 67, http://goo.gl/PXCxnK]

In 2009, the gross enrollment ratio for tertiary enrollment was below 20 percent in 43 percent of the 158 countries for which data are available, and fell between 20 and 50 percent in a quarter. Another quarter of the countries fall between the 50 to 80 percent range. [UNESCO, World Atlas Gender Equality in Education, 2012, pg 75, http://goo.gl/PXCxnK]

In the majority of countries worldwide, young men are more likely than young women to enroll in vocational education. [UNESCO, World Atlas Gender Equality in Education, 2012, pg 68, http://goo.gl/PXCxnK]

The youth literacy rate at the global level was 91% in 2013, compared an adult literacy rate of 85%. [UNESCO, UIS: Adult and Youth Literacy Factsheet – Sept 2015, pg 1, http://goo.gl/KBt0xR]

Worldwide, 103 million young people (ages 15–24) are illiterate. [UNDP Human Development Report 2015, p.4, http://goo.gl/N21NIF]

Young women between 15 and 24 years old are 4% less likely to be literate than their male counterparts. [UNESCO, UIS: Adult and Youth Literacy Factsheet – Sept 2015, pg 4, http://goo.gl/KBt0xR]

By 2015 in South and West Asia, the youth literacy rate is projected to be just 4 percentage points short of the global average, compared with 9 points in 2010 and 23 in 1990. For young women, the youth literacy rate is projected to be just 5 percentage points under the global average by 2015, compared with gaps of 12 points in 2010 and 30 in 1990. [EFA Global monitoring Report 2015, Education for all 2000-2015, Achievements and Challenges, p.14, http://goo.gl/ppA8ld]

Ensuring basic literacy and numeracy skills for young people in low-income countries could lift 171 million people out of poverty, resulting in a 12% cut in global poverty. [UNICEF, 2012, http://uni.cf/1O3yXfe]

International aid to education remains below 2010 levels and is grossly insufficient to meet new education targets to achieve universal primary and secondary education. [UNESCO, UIS: Out of School Children Data Release 2015: http://goo.gl/nsrZ54]

It will cost an extra $40 billion to provide 12 years of education to everyone in low and lower-middle income countries. To fill this shortfall, donor countries must increase their aid to education by 600%. [UNESCO, UIS: Out of School Children Data Release 2015: http://goo.gl/nsrZ54]

A World Bank study of 100 countries found that every 1% increase in the proportion of women with secondary education boosts a country’s annual per capita income growth rate by about 0.3 percentage points. [UNFPA & UNICEF, Co‐Chairs of the United Nations Adolescent Girls Task Force, 2011, http://bit.ly/R7ATei]

Only about 2 out of 130 countries have achieved gender parity at all levels of education. [UNDP, 2013]

Each year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20%. An extra year of secondary school: 15 to 25%. [UNFPA, UNICEF, Co‐Chairs of the United Nations Adolescent Girls Task Force, 2011, http://bit.ly/R7ATei]

60% of women aged 25 and older have at least some secondary education, compared with 67% of men. [UNDP, 2014, http://bit.ly/1qCK3Qm]

Inadequate facilities at schools force millions of girls around the world to miss class during menstruation. It’s estimated that more than half of schools in low-income countries lack sufficient toilets for girls or are unsafe and unclean. [UNGEI, 2014, http://bit.ly/1NbHn2H]

In 1/3 of countries with data, less than ¾ of existing teachers are trained to national standards. [UNESCO, 2014]

By 2030, 3.3 million more teachers are needed in primary school, and 5.1 million are needed in secondary school, which reflects an urgency to address youth transition. [UNESCO, 2014]

Gross enrolment ratios in secondary education are nearly 30% lower in conflict affected countries (48%) than in others (67%) and far lower for girls. [UNESCO EFA GMR, 2011, http://bit.ly/1Lop5wW]

In a country with a high ratio of youth to adult population, doubling the percentage of youth with secondary education, from 30% to 60%, would halve the risk of conflict. [UNESCO, 2014]

Globally, 26% of young people in the university age cohort are enrolled in tertiary education. For refugees, this percentage is estimated to be less than 1%. [UNHCR, 2014]

20 million out of school adolescents were living in countries affected by conflict in 2011, of which 11 million were female. [UNESCO, 2013, http://bit.ly/1NbGrvp]

Just 79% of young people are literate in conflict affected states compared with 93% in other countries. [UNESCO, 2011 http://bit.ly/1Lop5wW]

In many countries, the military use of schools was employed as a justification by perpetrators of attacks. [UNHCR, 2014, http://bit.ly/1pgFNiK]

Attacks on higher education between 2009 – 2013 included assassination, killing or injury of students and academics, arbitrary arrest, torture, abduction, kidnapping, imprisonment and the bombing of groups of students, individual academics and higher education facilities. [UNHCR, 2014, http://bit.ly/1pgFNiK]

Less than 1% of youth who become refugees due to conflict have access to tertiary education. [UNHCR, 2014, http://bit.ly/1pgFNiK]