Statistical tables

Introduction

The tables in this appendix are based largely on data reported to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), supplemented by data from the World Bank. Data were collected during 2000 as part of the Institute's regular data collection programme, and refer to 1998 unless otherwise specified. While these data are the best available at the international level, they must be interpreted with care and should be regarded as indications of magnitude rather than as precise measurements. In view of the differences between school systems even in neighbouring countries, one should be prudent when comparing data across countries or attempting to rank countries by any single indicator.

The tables that follow present education indicators for each country1, at pre-primary and primary levels and on literacy, as well as some economic indicators that may affect the development of the education system.
The indicators related to literacy, enrolment and intake rates are derived using the UN population data for all countries, which in some cases, differ from nations' estimates of population size.

The Gross enrolment ratio in pre-primary education (column 1) is the number of children enrolled in pre-primary education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the population in the relevant official age-group. This indicator measures the general level of participation of young children in education preceding the primary level. It also indicates a country's capacity to prepare young children for primary education.

The Apparent intake rate (column 3) refers to the number of new entrants in the first grade of primary education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the population at the official primary school-entrance age. The Apparent intake rate reflects the general level of access to primary education. It also indicates the capacity of the education system to provide access to grade 1 for the official school-entrance age population. The Net intake rate (column 4) gives a more precise measurement of access to primary education, as it takes into account only the new entrants in the first grade of primary education who are of the official primary school-entrance age.

The Gross enrolment ratio in primary education (column 5) corresponds to total enrolment in primary education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the population in the relevant primary school-age group. This indicator is widely used to show the general level of participation in and capacity of primary education. The Net enrolment ratio (column 6) gives a more precise measurement of the extent of participation in primary education, as it refers only to those children belonging to the official primary school age-group. It can also be used together with the gross enrolment ratio to measure the extent of over-aged and under-aged enrolment. In most cases, a large difference between gross and net enrolment ratios suggests the presence of over-aged pupils, resulting from late entrance and frequent grade repetitions.

The percentage of repeaters (column 7) is the number of pupils who are enrolled in the same grade as in a previous year, expressed as a percentage of the total enrolment. This indicator measures the phenomenon of pupils repeating a grade, and is one measure of the internal efficiency of the primary education cycle.

The Pupil/teacher ratio (column 8) is the average number of pupils per teacher in primary education in a given school-year. This indicator is used to measure the level of human resources input, in terms of numbers of teachers, in relation to the size of the pupil population.

The Adult literacy rate (column 9) is defined as the percentage of the population aged 15 years and over who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement on their everyday life. The adult literacy rate reflects the accumulated achievement of primary education and adult literacy programmes in imparting basic literacy skills to the population, thereby enabling people to apply such skills in daily life and to continue learning and communicating using the written word. Literacy represents a potential for the individual's further intellectual growth and enhanced contribution to socio-economic and cultural development of society.

Public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP (left part of column 10) shows the share of the value of the total national production of goods and services in a given financial year that has been devoted to education. The public expenditure on education expressed as a percentage of total government expenditure (right part of column 10) shows the proportion of a government's total expenditure for a given financial year that has been spent on education. It reflects the level of commitment of a government to devote financial resources to the development of its educational system. These two indicators give a rough measure of a country's financial effort in favour of education in relation to its means. Both indicators, when compared with similar indicators for other sectors (Defence, Health, etc.), also measure the relative emphasis given to investment in education.

Total debt services as a percentage of gross national income (GNI) (left part of column 11) shows the proportion of a country's wealth generated during a given financial year that has been devoted to debt services. Total debt services as a percentage of exports of goods and services (right part of column 11) shows the proportion of a country's total exports during a given financial year that has been devoted to debt services. Total debt service is the sum of principal repayments and interest actually paid in foreign currency, goods, or services on long-term debt, interest paid on short-term debt, and repayments (repurchases and charges) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Related to these two indicators, the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) was the first comprehensive approach to reducing the external debt of the world's poorest, most heavily indebted countries. This initiative was proposed by the World Bank and IMF and agreed by governments around the world in 1996, and represented an important step forward in placing debt relief within an overall framework of poverty reduction. The HIPC initiative targets the poorest countries, those that are only eligible for highly concessional assistance from the International Development Association (IDA), the part of the World Bank that lends on highly concessional terms, and from the IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (previously the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility). Within the Dakar Framework for Action, it is expected that the HIPC debt relief will release resources from debt servicing and enable poor countries to increase budgetary allocations to ensuring Education For All (EFA).