Facts About Education Around the World

As of 2012, 31 million primary-school pupils worldwide dropped out of school. An additional 32 million repeated a grade.

In the sub-Saharan, 11.07 million children leave school before completing their primary education. In South and West Asia, that number reaches 13.54 million.

While girls are less likely to begin school, boys are more likely to repeat grades or drop out altogether. Host a competitive book drive to benefit a shelter near you. Sign up for Stacks on Stacks.

According to UNESCO, 61 million primary school-age children were not enrolled in school in 2010. Of these children, 47% were never expected to enter school, 26% attended school but left, and the remaining 27% are expected to attend school in the future.

Children living in a rural environment are twice as likely to be out of school than urban children. Additionally, children from the wealthiest 20% of the population are 4 times more likely to be in school than the poorest 20%.

In developing, low-income countries, every additional year of education can increase a person’s future income by an average of 10%.

Women who are less educated are having more children, on average 2.5 children, over the course of their lifetime when compared to more educated women, on average 1.7 children.

Women with a primary school education are 13% more likely to know that condoms can reduce their risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. An education can help decrease the spreading of this virus by promoting safer sexual practices.

53% of the world’s out-of-school children are girls and 2/3 of the illiterate people in the world are women.

Education empowers women to make healthy decisions about their lives. For example, women in Mali with a secondary level education or higher have an average of 3 children, while those with no education have an average of 7.

The youth literacy rates in South America and Europe are among the highest with 90-100% literacy. The African continent, however, has areas with less than 50% literacy among children ages 18 and under.