Primary school trends around the world

For the last 50 years, the World Bank has tracked the rate of children not attending primary school. They view education as one of the most significant considerations for eliminating poverty, as well as improving health and gender equality. It is encouraging to see the percent of children not attending primary school trending down, as well as the gap closing between male and female attendance.

Explore the graph below to see for yourself how continent and/or country rates have changed over time. As you explore, you may notice not all countries have data for all years.

Children in Fragile and Conflict-affected Situations

Since 1970, the number of children not attending primary school around the world has been reduced by more than 50%. But the number of children out of school in Fragile and Conflict-affected Situation countries has actually increased over that time. Is it possible for children to attend primary school while living in such challenging circumstances?



Countries designated as Fragile and Conflict-affected Situations

The World Bank annually designates countries as Fragile and Conflict-affected Situations, based on factors such as high or medium intensity conflict (wars and civil unrest), institutional and social fragility, or considered small states (which may limit their ability to provide reasonable public services).

Fragile and Conflict-affected countries are identified as RED. The darker the color, the more children out of school. Hover over a country to view additional statistics.

Source: The World Bank - World Development Indicators

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