But on the down side, poor quality, the high cost of schooling and persisting high levels of adult illiteracy are undermining the chances of achieving education for all (EFA) by 2015.

The EFA Global Monitoring Report is an annual publication prepared by an independent team based at UNESCO. It monitors progress towards the six EFA goals adopted in Dakar, Senegal in 2000. The UIS is a key member of the EFA monitoring team, providing statistical annexes and analysis which lay the foundations for the report.

The report shows that primary school enrolment increased by 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and 22% in South and West Asia between 1999 and 2005. Governments in 14 countries abolished primary school tuition fees, a measure that has favoured access for the most disadvantaged. Worldwide, the number of out-of-school children dropped sharply from 96 million in 1999 to 72 million in 2005.

Countries where primary school enrolments rose sharply generally increased their education spending as a share of GNP. Public expenditure on education increased by over 5% annually in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia, the two regions farthest from achieving Education for All.

Yet despite this encouraging progress, the finish line remains distant. The EFA Development Index (EDI), calculated for 129 countries, shows that 25 are far from achieving EFA. About two-thirds of these are in sub-Saharan Africa, but Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Mauritania, Morocco and Pakistan are also included. (The report cautions that the number of low-achieving countries would be larger if data were available for all countries, including conflict or post-conflict countries with low levels of education development.)
 
The full report, executive summary and additional information are available at www.efareport.unesco.org.

Looking for specific statistics in the report? Use the data search tool developed by the UIS.