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Figure 11 Primary completion rates by region and by gender, 1999-2009
Source: UNESCO, World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education (Paris, 2012), figure 3.6.1, citing UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Available from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002155/215522e.pdf. * 2009 data for East Asia and the Pacific refer to 2007.
173. Regarding school-life expectancy, 112 the average number of years of instruction that a child entering the education system can expect to receive also increased between 1990 and 2009, from 8.3 to 11 years for females and from 9.6 to 11.4 years for males. Consistent with progress in primary school completion, the greatest progress in reducing the gender gap in school-life expectancy has been made in South and West Asia, where a girl who started school in 2009 can expect to receive 9.5 years of education, up from 6 years in 1990. Nevertheless, boys continue to have the advantage, with an average school-life expectancy of 10.5 years. Likewise, in sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab States, girls who started school in 2009 can expect to receive 8 and 10 years of education respectively, whereas boys in these regions still have the advantage of at least one extra year of instruction. In East Asia and the Pacific, not only did school-life expectancy for girls rise by 38 per cent between 1990 and 2009, but girls enrolled in primary education can expect to spend about 12 years in school, slightly surpassing the average for males. Similarly, in Latin America and the Caribbean, a girl starting primary school can expect to receive almost 14 years of instruction, compared to 13.3 years for boys. 113 174. Although gains in secondary education have not been as rapid as those at the primary level, countries around the world are making progress towards increased access to secondary education. Of 187 countries with data, a quarter (27 per cent) have gross enrolment ratios of 98 per cent or more, approaching universal secondary enrolment; however, in 43 per cent of countries, enrolment is less than 80 per cent.113 __________________ 112
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School-life expectancy is the total number of years of schooling which a child of a certain age can expect to receive in the future, assuming that the probability of his or her being enrolled in school at any particular age is equal to the current enrolment ratio for that age (see UNESCO Institute of Statistics, Education Indicators, Technical Guidelines, November 2009). UNESCO, World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education.
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