16
The Road Not Traveled
TABLE 1.5
Average Years of Schooling of the Total Population Aged 15 and Over, 1960–2000 1960
1980
2000
Algeria Bahrain Djibouti Egypt, Arab Rep. of Iran, Islamic Rep. of Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya Morocco Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia Syrian Arab. Rep. Tunisia United Arab Emirates West Bank and Gaza Yemen, Rep. of Mean
0.98 1.04 — — 0.80 0.29 2.33 2.89 — 0.97 — — — — 1.35 0.61 — — — 1.25
2.68 3.62 — 2.34 2.82 2.66 4.28 4.53 — 3.87 — — — — 3.65 2.94 2.87 — 0.34 3.05
5.37 6.11 — 5.51 5.31 3.95 6.91 7.05 — — — — — — 5.77 5.02 — — 2.91 5.39
Korea, Rep. of Indonesia Malaysia Thailand Philippine China Mean
4.25 1.55 2.88 4.30 4.24 — 3.44
7.91 3.67 5.09 4.43 6.51 4.76 5.40
10.84 4.99 6.80 6.50 8.21 6.35 7.28
Argentina Brazil Chile Mexico Peru Mean
5.25 2.85 5.21 2.76 3.30 3.87
7.03 3.11 6.42 4.77 6.11 5.49
8.83 4.88 7.55 7.23 7.58 7.21
Sources: Statistical Appendix and Barro-Lee 2000. Note: When data are not available in a given year, we used the year closest to that year. Libya: AYS in 1960 are from 1965, and 1980 from 1985. United Arab Emirates: AYS in 1980 are from 1975. Yemen: AYS in 2000 are from 1999. AYS in 1980 for Yemen are for Yemen, N. Arab.
problem for MENA countries, then, is not the growth of the average years of schooling; rather, it is the extremely low initial level of education in most countries in the 1960s and 1970s. Thus, in 1960, Jordan’s adult population had an average of only 2.33 years of schooling, which is lower than the level in every East Asian and