SHAPING THE FUTURE HOW CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS CAN POWER HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

94
TABLE 3.9:
Youth illiteracy has fallen but affects a quarter
of young people globally
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2015.
TABLE 3.10:
All world regions have made significant
progress on literacy rates
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics 2015.
Large disparities persist in Asia-Pacific as a
whole, but there has been significant improvement
in South Asia, with the rate rising from
74 percent to 84 percent over the last decade.
Even so, the subregion is still home to more than
half of illiterate people globally and confronts
some of the worst gender disparities. More
modest progress has unfolded in the Pacific,
while the literacy rate is already very high at
97 percent or more in East Asia and South-east
Asia (Table 3.10).
In Afghanistan, Pakistan and Papua New
Guinea, more than a fourth of youth are not
literate; in 16 other countries, all youth were
literate in 2015. 32 Literacy rates in the region
are generally higher among youth than adults,
and gender disparities are less for young women,
indicating progress over time. Except for
Afghanistan, almost all Asia-Pacific countries
have achieved or are close to gender parity in
youth literacy.
CHILD LABOUR STILL DEPRIVES
MILLIONS OF EDUCATION
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF), 11 percent of children around the
world, some 168 million, are trapped in child
labour. 33 This violates their rights and embodies a
tragic loss of human potential. The phenomenon
signifies “a denial of their freedom in childhood,
denial of their dignity, and their development
for the future—including education and health,”
as noted by 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Kailash Satyarthi. 34
Although child labour has been on the
decline in Asia-Pacific, the region still has the
largest numbers of child labourers, at almost 78
million, or 9.3 percent of the child population.
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest proportion
of child labourers, at over 21 percent, or 59
million in total numbers. 35 Within Asia-Pacific,
around 69 percent of child labourers are
found in agriculture, while 22 percent work in
services, including as domestic helpers, and 7
percent in industry. 36 A large number are also
in bonded employment or other forms of modern-day
slavery.
The prevalence of child labour is a paradox,
given that Asia-Pacific has a surge of youth
who are available and looking for employment.