Click here
to go back to the reports page
Click here
to go back to the World Bank page
Summary
- Basically, the WB has three indicators, literacy rate,
secondary enrollment and tertiary enrollment.
- Literacy rate has the most missing data, secondary
enrollment the least.
- The three indicators are fairly well correlated.
- Worldwide, there is a wide differences between countries
with the highest and lowest secondary enrollment rates.
Several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have enrollment rates
below 25% (Niger, Central African Republic, Chad, Mozambique,
Mauritania). The countries with the highest enrollment rates
are Australia, Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Denmark, and New
Zealand, all with rates about 120% or over.
- In some regions (Latin America and Caribbean, Middle East
and North Africa), there are some, but not huge, differences
between countries with the highest and lowest secondary
enrollment rates. In other regions (Sub-Saharan Africa, South
Asia and Pacific), there are large differences.
Charts
Data
The World Bank has these 3 indicators:
Gross enrollment ratio, secondary, both sexes (%)
Gross enrollment ratio, tertiary, both sexes (%)
Adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, both sexes (%)
I used an average of the indicators over 2008-2014. Some
indicators may not have data for every year. For example, for
literacy rate:
Only 44 countries have data for 2010
Only 55 countries have data for 2013
Using the 2008-2014 average, I can include more countries,
averaging over the years for which the countries do have data.
However, there are still indicators with missing data. The data
base has 215 total countries. But:
77 countries have no data on literacy
48 countries have no data on tertiary enrollment
36 countries have no data on secondary enrollment
Correlation among the three indicators
|
Enrollment, secondary
|
Literacy rate |
Enrollment, tertiary
|
0.76
|
0.64
|
Literacy rate
|
0.83
|
|
One conclusion could be that secondary enrollment could be
a fair substitute for literacy rate. More countries
have data, and the two indicators correlate reasonably well.
Data set is here http://gsociology.icaap.org/report/wb/ED/CurrentEnrollment_andCharts.ods
Adult literacy rate, population 15+ years, both sexes
(%) http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS
Percentage of the population age 15 and above who can, with
understanding, read and write a short, simple statement on their
everyday life. Generally, ‘literacy’ also encompasses ‘numeracy’,
the ability to make simple arithmetic calculations. This indicator
is calculated by dividing the number of literates aged 15 years and
over by the corresponding age group population and multiplying the
result by 100.
Gross enrolment ratio, secondary, both sexes (%) http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.SEC.ENRR
Total enrollment in secondary education, regardless of age,
expressed as a percentage of the population of official secondary
education age. GER can exceed 100% due to the inclusion of over-aged
and under-aged students because of early or late school entrance and
grade repetition.
Gross enrolment ratio, tertiary, both sexes (%) http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.TER.ENRR
Total enrollment in tertiary education (ISCED 5 to 8), regardless of
age, expressed as a percentage of the total population of the
five-year age group following on from secondary school leaving.
Tertiary education refers to all post-secondary
education, including but not limited to universities. In recent
years, a diverse and growing set of public and private tertiary
institutions in every country—colleges, technical training
institutes, community colleges, nursing schools, research
laboratories, centers of excellence, distance learning centers,
and many more—form a network of institutions that prepare students
for application of knowledge at an advanced level. http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/tertiaryeducation/overview#1
May be used provided proper citation is given. Cite as:
World Bank: Education
Gene Shackman, Ph.D. The Global Social Change Research Project
Copyright 12 June 2016
http://gsociology.icaap.org/report/wb/WorldBankEducation.html
Data from 2016 edition of World Development Indicators http://data.worldbank.org/