Children Out of School

The enrollment of children in schools is low in many developing countries and is generally lower than what policymakers attempt to achieve. This is challenging because schooling and human capital are central to any form of socioeconomic development. Global poverty, among other social and cultural reasons, has increased the number of children out of school. It is estimated that a total of 67 million primary school-age children, for example, were out of school in 2008. Some 43 percent of out-of-school children live in sub-Saharan Africa alone, and another 27 percent in south and west Asia, and more than 30 million live in only 15 countries. Additionally, 74 million children of lower-secondary-school age were out of school in 2008, pointing to further elimination of children from ...