SHAPING THE FUTURE HOW CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS CAN POWER HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

TABLE 3.7:
Enrolment in tertiary education in Asia-Pacific
has grown faster than in any other region
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2015.
TABLE 3.8:
Less than a third of potential students have access to tertiary education
Europe, North America and Oceania (Table 3.8).
Among countries in Asia-Pacific, the range is
very wide, from 98 percent in the Republic of
Korea to 4 percent in Afghanistan; generally,
access is expanding more rapidly in high- and
middle-income countries (Figure 3.3).
The profile of tertiary students is undergoing
considerable change, as traditionally excluded
groups now participate, and older individuals
seek to upgrade their qualifications. At the same
time, access is undercut by disparities, often accumulating
at lower levels of education. By and
large, an advanced degree remains a privilege of
the rich and middle class, and serves to maintain
gaps in income. In Viet Nam, for example, 52
percent of young adults from the top quintile
have attended higher education, compared to
only 4 percent of those from the lowest quintile.
In Bangladesh and Cambodia, less than one
percent of young adults from households in
the poorest quintile have ever attended higher
education. 25 In India, Indonesia, the Philippines
and Viet Nam, rising wage inequalities are closely
linked to widening wage gaps between people
with tertiary education and those at lower levels
of schooling. 26 Without intervention, today’s
inequalities in education will become tomorrow’s
Without appropriate
interventions,
today’s educational
inequalities will
become tomorrow’s
inequalities in
wealth and human
development
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2015.
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