New data released by the UIS highlight the growing demand for secondary education. Globally, the share of children participating in this level of education grew from 59% to 68% between 1999 and 2009. Over the course of just ten years, the absolute number of pupils enrolled in secondary education rose from 436 million to 531 million.
At the regional level, East Asia and the Pacific made the greatest gains, with the gross enrolment ratio (GER) for secondary education (lower and upper levels combined) rising by 15 percentage points from 63% to 78% between 1999 and 2009. Participation rates also significantly improved in sub-Saharan Africa (from 24% to 36%), South and West Asia (44% to 56%) and the Arab States (57% to 68%).
Globally, the number of early adolescents (population aged 12 to 14 years old) who are out of school decreased from 98 million to 72 million between 1999 and 2009. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the share of out-of-school adolescents amongst the total population of lower secondary age fell from 55% to 37%. Nonetheless, exclusion remains a serious problem in many countries. In countries such as Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Eritrea and Mali, 50% or more of 12 to 14-year-olds are not enrolled in lower secondary education.
These statistics are part of the main release of UIS education data, which will be featured in international publications, such as the Global Education Digest, the Education for All Global Monitoring Report and the World Development Indicators. In particular, the reference data for 2009 will be analysed in the upcoming edition of the Global Education Digest, which will present a range of indicators concerning participation and equity issues in secondary education.
The UIS education database is updated three times each year in January, June and October. To consult the latest available statistics, use the “custom tables” option in the UIS Data Centre. Then follow these three simple steps to build a statistical table for the newly released 2009 and/or 2010 data:
1. Select countries in the “Country” box.
2. Select data items in the “Data” field.
3. Select desired year and click “Generate table”.