New estimation confirms out-of-school population is growing in sub-Saharan Africa
It is estimated that 244 million children and youth between the ages of 6 and 18 worldwide were out of school in 2021. The results are based on a new, improved way of measuring, which combines administrative and survey data, following a similar approach to the one applied before in the estimation of flagship health indicators. The estimates confirm that, even before the onset of COVID-19, progress in reducing the out-of-school population had slowed down. At the same time, the results suggest a different distribution of this population by age group, while they fill gaps in the case of about 50 countries whose administrative data have been incomplete or lacking.