New data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) shows that an estimated 244 million children aged between 6 and 18 are still out of school around the world. Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia are the regions with the highest numbers of out-of-school learners.
While the data shows alarming numbers of out-of-school learners, it also shows that the gender gap has been generally resolved, with the difference in the rate of boys and girls who are out of school around the world reduced to zero on average.
The data comes from UNESCO’s Visualising Indicators of Education for the World (VIEW) website. The website produces more accurate and efficient education data by taking information from surveys and censuses, as used to produce health indicators. It provides information on out-of-school and school completion rates around the world, and the data can be filtered by country and region.
In response to the new estimates, Director-General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay will renew her call for education to be placed at the top of the international agenda during the Transforming Education Summit on 19 September.
A full report on UNESCO’s findings is available on its website.