In sub-Saharan Africa, the gross enrolment ratio for girls in lower secondary education is 39% compared to 48% for boys.

UNESCO: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP)

About 35 million girls were enrolled in lower secondary education in 2009, with the female gross enrolment ratio reaching 69% compared to 53% in 1999.

UNESCO: EDUCATION

Significant improvements have also been made in the Arab States, with the female gross enrolment ratio for lower secondary education rising from 67% to 82% over the same period.

UNESCO: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP)

Other risk factors include a university enrolment ratio of only 15% (94th in the world), and the business costs of crime and violence (which are the highest in the world).

ECONOMIST: Outstripped

Between 1999 and 2009, the gross enrolment ratio for boys rose by nine percentage points for boys (from 22% to 31%) compared to only six percentage points for girls (18% to 24%).

UNESCO: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP)

The prospects for girls have been improving in other regions such as East Asia and the Pacific, where the lower secondary gross enrolment ratio for girls grew from 75% to 91% between 1999 and 2009.

UNESCO: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP)

Similarly, UNESCO noted that the net enrolment ratio (NER) in pre-primary education in 2005 for children aged 3 to 5 years was 46 per cent which suggest that well over half the pre-school aged population has no access to ECE.

UNESCO: The Mother-Child Home Education Programme (MOCEP)