SHAPING THE FUTURE HOW CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS CAN POWER HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

In most Asia-Pacific
countries, secondary
school enrolment
lags behind
the world average
TABLE 3.4:
Enrolment in secondary education has seen a
rapid rise
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2015.
Note: The enrolment rate exceeds 100% when children above
or below the age of secondary schooling are enrolled in
secondary schooling.
over, East Asia has achieved universal coverage
in lower secondary education. Rates are also
relatively high at about 80 percent in South-east
Asia and South Asia. (Table 3.4).
Secondary education enrolments in Asia-Pacific
increased from 217 million to 305 million
in the last decade, with the region accounting
for almost 72 percent of a global increase of over
550 million students. South Asia alone accounted
for almost half of the global surge, with particularly
strong progress for girls. The number
of students has declined in East Asia, from 58
million to 52 million, as it is further along in
the process of demographic transition and has
a shrinking share of young people (Table 3.5).
Increases in upper secondary education for
students aged 15-18 have occurred at faster rates
than for primary or lower secondary education in
Asia-Pacific, but upper secondary enrolment still
lags behind, at less than 60 percent in South-east
Asia and the Pacific. In most Asia-Pacific countries,
rates were below the world average of 66
percent in 2013. Differences between upper and
lower levels can be wide, reaching 32 percentage
points in South Asia, for example. The largest
increase in the upper secondary enrolment rate
was in East Asia, from 40 percent in 1999 to 84
TABLE 3.5:
Asia-Pacific accounts for much of the increased number of students in secondary school
88
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2015.