people and planet

22
“
On average across 54 countries, there would be over 100 fewer
births for every 1,000 women if they had secondary education
compared to no education at all
”
But caution is needed. A population with particular levels
of education attainment changes over time as education
systems expand. For example, the characteristics of
women who had never been to school in low income
countries in 1990, when this circumstance was relatively
common, are very different from those in 2015, when this
situation has become rarer.
Three examples from the health SDG show disparity
in development outcomes by level of education. The
adolescent birth rate – the number of births per
1,000 women aged 15 to 19 (global indicator 3.7.2) –
varies considerably by education level. Across 54 low
and middle countries with data over 2008–2015, the
unweighted average number of births per 1,000 women
was 176 if they had no education, 142 if they had primary,
61 if they had secondary and 13 if they had tertiary.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the negative association of
adolescent birth rate with secondary education appears
to have become stronger over time (Figure 22.1a).
Since 2000, the under-5 mortality rate (global indicator
3.2.1) has rapidly declined in Southern and Eastern Africa.
In countries including Rwanda and Zambia, the mortality
rate of children whose mothers had secondary education
was 20% to 30% lower than children with primaryeducated
mothers. It was about 50% lower in countries
such as the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Guinea and the
FIGURE 22.1:
Education is positively associated with desirable development outcomes
a. Adolescent birth rate (births per 1,000 women, aged 15 to 19 years), 1997–2014
300
250
No education
Primary
Secondary
Higher
Births per 1,000 women
200
150
100
50
0
1998
2011
1998 2014
1997 2009 2000 2011
2001 2011
2007 2013
1997 2013
2000 2014
2000 2012
2000 2012
2000 2014
1997 2012
Cameroon
Ghana
Madagascar
Ethiopia
Nepal
Pakistan
Yemen
Egypt
Haiti
Peru
Cambodia
Indonesia
Western and Central
Africa
Eastern and Southern
Africa
Southern Asia
Northern Africa and
Western Asia
Latin America
and the Caribbean
Eastern and
South-eastern Asia
Source: Demographic and Health Survey STATcompiler (2016).
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CHAPTER 22 | EDUCATION IN THE OTHER SDGS