Demographic

Table 3.2.2 Educational attainment by background characteristics: Men 15-49Percent distribution of women age 15-49 by highest level of schooling attended or completed, and median years completed,according to background characteristics, Swaziland 2006-07BackgroundcharacteristicNoeducationHighest educational levelLower Higherprimary primary SecondaryHighschool Tertiary TotalMedianyearscompletedNumber ofmenAge15-24 3.7 12.7 28.5 34.4 18.4 2.4 100.0 7.5 2,20915-19 3.2 14.5 34.8 37.3 10.0 0.2 100.0 6.8 1,32320-24 4.3 9.9 19.1 30.0 30.9 5.7 100.0 8.7 88625-29 8.2 6.8 16.9 27.6 29.8 10.7 100.0 9.0 62430-34 8.2 12.0 16.8 16.3 32.6 14.1 100.0 9.6 43135-39 12.2 11.6 19.3 22.1 14.9 20.0 100.0 8.2 36740-44 18.1 8.4 19.5 20.6 12.8 20.7 100.0 8.1 26945-49 21.9 11.8 19.4 20.2 12.2 14.4 100.0 6.6 256ResidenceUrban 6.2 6.2 15.1 27.1 27.2 18.1 100.0 9.5 1,181Rural 8.2 13.3 27.0 29.3 17.8 4.5 100.0 7.2 2,975RegionHhohho 8.5 8.6 20.6 30.9 21.8 9.6 100.0 8.4 1,099Manzini 5.2 8.2 23.0 28.0 24.2 11.4 100.0 8.5 1,349Shiselweni 5.6 14.6 25.9 31.2 19.0 3.6 100.0 7.4 843Lubombo 12.2 16.5 25.9 24.3 14.5 6.6 100.0 6.4 865Wealth quintileLowest 17.5 25.1 32.7 18.3 6.4 0.0 100.0 4.7 601Second 8.7 14.2 31.7 31.1 14.0 0.3 100.0 6.6 665Middle 6.0 12.9 29.7 32.9 17.1 1.4 100.0 7.1 856Fourth 5.9 8.1 21.4 33.6 25.2 5.7 100.0 8.4 953Highest 4.2 3.3 10.7 25.2 30.8 25.7 100.0 11.0 1,081Total 15-49 7.6 11.3 23.6 28.6 20.5 8.3 100.0 7.9 4,156Note: Education categories refer to the highest level of education attended, whether or not that level was completed.3.3 LITERACYThe ability to read and write is an important personal asset, allowing individuals increasedopportunities in life. Knowing the distribution of the literate population can facilitate programmemanagers, especially in health and family planning, in designing messages to reach women and men. The2006-07 SDHS assessed the ability to read among women and men who had never been to school or whohad attended only the primary level by asking respondents to read a simple and short sentence. 2 Tables3.3.1 and 3.3.2 show the percent distribution of female and male respondents, by level of literacy andpercent literate according to background characteristics.Overall, 91 percent of Swazi women age 15-49 are literate. Six in ten women have attendedsecondary or higher education and among those who have no education or had attended or are attendingprimary school, 32 percent can read a whole sentence or part of a sentence. Younger women, women inurban areas, and those who are in the highest wealth quintile are more likely to be literate than otherwomen. The literacy rate is lowest among women in Lubombo.Table 3.3.2 shows that the pattern for men is similar to that for women. For example, literacyrates are higher for younger men, urban men, and men in the highest wealth quintile than for other men.Across regions, men in Lubombo also have the lowest literacy rate.2 The sentence is: “The radio programme on health issues is brought to you by Muhle Dlamini.”Characteristics of Respondents | 31