South Asia - Children out of school, primary

The value for Children out of school, primary in South Asia was 14,971,570 as of 2019. As the graph below shows, over the past 49 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 41,729,180 in 1987 and a minimum value of 13,640,040 in 2013.

Definition: Children out of school are the number of primary-school-age children not enrolled in primary or secondary school.

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (http://uis.unesco.org/)

See also:

Year Value
1970 39,893,350
1971 40,999,800
1972 40,280,690
1973 37,768,460
1974 38,713,920
1975 38,105,960
1976 38,317,070
1977 37,342,420
1978 40,630,080
1979 41,420,250
1980 41,132,050
1981 40,478,470
1982 41,182,540
1983 40,264,010
1984 39,722,810
1985 40,434,490
1986 39,279,060
1987 41,729,180
1988 39,670,630
1989 37,552,340
1990 38,228,260
1991 38,759,580
1992 38,761,070
1993 37,344,490
1994 36,045,440
1995 36,139,470
1996 36,176,500
1997 36,505,980
1998 38,054,270
1999 37,193,870
2000 34,616,810
2001 34,722,010
2002 33,761,650
2003 26,969,120
2004 22,568,540
2005 19,489,420
2006 18,116,070
2007 14,891,380
2008 15,182,380
2009 16,713,170
2010 15,894,080
2011 17,148,410
2012 15,556,470
2013 13,640,040
2014 16,278,610
2015 17,392,760
2016 16,452,460
2017 16,525,660
2018 15,591,970
2019 14,971,570

Development Relevance: Large numbers of children out of school create pressure to enroll children and provide classrooms, teachers, and educational materials, a task made difficult in many countries by limited education budgets. However, getting children into school is a high priority for countries and crucial for achieving universal primary education.

Limitations and Exceptions: Due to different data sources for enrollment and population data, the number may not capture the actual number of children not attending in primary school.

Other Notes: Data retrieved via API in March 2019. For detailed information on the observation level (e.g. National Estimation, UIS Estimation, or Category not applicable), please visit UIS.Stat (http://data.uis.unesco.org/).

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The number of out-of-school children is calculated by subtracting the number of primary school-age children enrolled in primary or secondary school from the total population of the official primary school-age children. Data on education are collected by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics from official responses to its annual education survey. All the data are mapped to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) to ensure the comparability of education programs at the international level. The current version was formally adopted by UNESCO Member States in 2011. Population data are drawn from the United Nations Population Division. Using a single source for population data standardizes definitions, estimations, and interpolation methods, ensuring a consistent methodology across countries and minimizing potential enumeration problems in national censuses. The reference years reflect the school year for which the data are presented. In some countries the school year spans two calendar years (for example, from September 2010 to June 2011); in these cases the reference year refers to the year in which the school year ended (2011 in the example).

Aggregation method: Sum

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Education Indicators

Sub-Topic: Participation