New indicator sheds light on the average education level of national populations
An educated workforce is considered a critical factor in economic development, yet it is difficult to assess the amount of education a population has.
To bridge this gap, the UIS has added a new indicator to its database to help improve the measurement of schooling among adult populations.
Mean years of schooling (MYS) provides the average number of years of education completed by a country’s adult population (25 years and older), excluding years spent repeating grades.
While UIS data on educational attainment provide the percentage of a country’s adult population distributed by level of education achieved (primary, secondary or tertiary), the new indicator aggregates the percentages into one value.
The new data set, spanning 1996 to 2013, includes more than 100 countries. It will be used in the calculation of UNDP’s Human Development Index.
The UIS is also updating its educational attainment data. Data for 2012 or 2013 are now available for 45 countries. To access the data, visit the UIS Data Centre and click on Literacy and Educational Attainment.
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The graph below shows estimates of MYS by region and indicates if the national values are below the number of years needed to complete primary, lower secondary, upper secondary or tertiary education in each country. For example, in the majority of countries from sub-Saharan Africa with data, the adult population has on average not completed primary education. By contrast, in regions like Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and North America and Western Europe, most adults completed at least lower secondary education. (Click to view full chart)
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What the numbers say
The new dataset on mean years of schooling provides a stark picture of the hurdles faced by countries lacking a sufficiently educated adult workforce. In Burkina Faso an adult aged 25 years or older has on average completed less than one year of schooling. In contrast, the average is 13.8 years in the United Kingdom, where one third of the population has participated in some form of higher education.
Overall, the data show improvement over time as countries have increased access to education. In South Africa, between 2001 and 2012, the average education level of the adult population rose from 7.5 years to 9.9 years.
By comparing different measures of attainment, we gain a better understanding of past and present trends, and what we might expect in the future. For example, in Mali the adult population has completed an average of only two years of schooling. A brighter picture emerges when we look at data for school life expectancy, which indicates the average number of years a child can expect to spend in school. Today, children in Mali can expect more than eight years of schooling, if current trends continue.
Ongoing refinement
The UIS approach to the estimation of mean years of schooling builds on the work of Robert Barro and Jong-Wha Lee in the field of educational attainment, while making the calculations more easily replicable. To learn more, please read UIS Methodology for Estimation of Mean Years of Schooling.
The UIS will continue to refine its methodology and expand the coverage of its database for regions like sub-Saharan Africa, where the availability of data remains limited.
For questions, additional information or to provide feedback, please contact uis.information@unesco.org.
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19/12/2013