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11 Facts About Education Around the World

Welcome to DoSomething.org, a global movement of millions of young people making positive change, online and off! The 11 facts you want are below, and the sources for the facts are at the very bottom of the page. After you learn something, Do Something! Find out how to take action here.

  1. As of 2012, 31 million primary-school pupils worldwide dropped out of school. An additional 32 million repeated a grade.^[United Nations Educational Scientific And Cultural Organization. "Opportunities lost: The impact of grade repetition and early school leaving." UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). Accessed april 8, 2014..]
  2. In the sub-Saharan, 11.07 million children leave school before completing their primary education. In South and West Asia, that number reaches 13.54 million.^[United Nations Educational Scientific And Cultural Organization. " Global Education Digest 2012 - Interactive Data Tool ." UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). Accessed April 8,2014. .]
  3. While girls are less likely to begin school, boys are more likely to repeat grades or drop out altogether. Host a competitive book drive to benefit a shelter near you. Sign up for Stacks on Stacks.^[Board, J. "Individual Differences - Gender Equity And Schooling." Education.StateUniversity.com. Accessed April 8, 2014. .]
  4. According to UNESCO, 61 million primary school-age children were not enrolled in school in 2010. Of these children, 47% were never expected to enter school, 26% attended school but left, and the remaining 27% are expected to attend school in the future.^[United Nations Educational Scientific And Cultural Organization. "Reaching out-of-school Children is Crucial for Development." UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). Accessed April 8, 2014..]
  5. Children living in a rural environment are twice as likely to be out of school than urban children. Additionally, children from the wealthiest 20% of the population are 4 times more likely to be in school than the poorest 20%.^[UN News Center. "Facts & Figures: Rural Women and the Millennium Development Goals." UN Women Watch. Accessed April 8, 2014..]
  6. In developing, low-income countries, every additional year of education can increase a person’s future income by an average of 10%.^[Center for Global Development. "Education and The Developing World." CGDEV.Org. Accessed April 8, 2014. .]
  7. Women who are less educated are having more children, on average 2.5 children, over the course of their lifetime when compared to more educated women, on average 1.7 children.^[Cohn, D'Vera and Livingston, Gretchen. "Record Share of New Mothers are College Educated." Pew Research Center. Accessed February 18, 2015. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/05/10/record-share-of-new-mothers-are-college-educated/]
  8. Women with a primary school education are 13% more likely to know that condoms can reduce their risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. An education can help decrease the spreading of this virus by promoting safer sexual practices.^[AVERT. "HIV & AIDS Education for Young People." HIV and AIDS information and resources. Accessed April 8, 2014. .]
  9. 53% of the world’s out-of-school children are girls and 2/3 of the illiterate people in the world are women.^[Lacey, Christie. "A Worthy Investment." Opportunity International. Accessed April 8, 2014. .]
  10. Education empowers women to make healthy decisions about their lives. For example, women in Mali with a secondary level education or higher have an average of 3 children, while those with no education have an average of 7.^[United Nations Educational Scientific And Cultural Organization. "Reaching out-of-school Children is Crucial for Development." UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). Accessed April 8, 2014. .]
  11. The youth literacy rates in South America and Europe are among the highest with 90-100% literacy. The African continent, however, has areas with less than 50% literacy among children ages 18 and under.^[(CPIPR) Center for Public Information on Population Research. "The Effect of Girls' Education on Health Outcomes: Fact Sheet." Population Reference Bureau. Accessed April 8, 2014. .]
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