Education is a key part of strategies to improve individuals' well-being and societies' economic and social development. In the Middle East and North Africa (MIDDLE EAST) (countries and territories included in the Middle East and North Africa as defined here are listed in Table 1), access to education has improved dramatically over the past few decades, and there have been a number of encouraging trends in girls' and women's education (see Figure 1). Primary school enrollment is high or universal in most MIDDLE EAST countries, and gender gaps in secondary school enrollment have already disappeared in several countries. Women in MIDDLE EAST countries are also more likely to enroll in universities than they were in the past(Willem, 1997).
Table 1Selected Socioeconomic Indicators in the Middle East and North Africa
Percent of Population Over Age 15 Who Are Illiterate, 2000
Number of People Over Age 15 Who Are Illiterate (thousands), 2000
Percent of Population Ages 15 to 24 Who Are Illiterate, 2000
Number of People Ages 15 to 24 Who Are Illiterate (thousands), 2000
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Middle East and North Africa
42
22
50,057
26,671
23
11
8,585
4,573
Algeria
43
24
4,211
2,360
16
7
530
227
Bahrain
17
9
32
25
1
2
1
1
Egypt
56
33
12,253
7,374
37
24
2,500
1,678
Iran
31
17
6,696
3,819
9
4
655
296
Iraq
77
45
5,070
3,057
71
41
1,593
962
Jordan
16
5
220
78
1
1
3
5
Kuwait
20
16
103
130
7
8
15
19
Lebanon
20
8
246
91
7
3
23
9
Libya
32
9
533
168
7
0.5
43
1
Morocco
64
38
6,286
3,702
42
24
1,265
750
Oman
38
20
246
155
4
0.5
9
1
Palestined
16
6
136
48
—
—
—
—
Qatar
17
20
21
57
3
7
1
3
Saudi Arabia
33
17
1,723
1,092
10
5
187
101
Syria
40
12
1,879
566
21
5
376
85
Tunisia
39
19
1,307
621
11
3
106
27
Turkey
24
7
5,453
1,539
6
1
392
81
United Arab Emirates
21
25
117
345
6
13
10
29
Yemen
75
33
3,525
1,444
54
17
874
292
Gross Enrollment Ratio (%)a
Women as a Share of Uni-versity Enroll- ment (%)
Public Education as a Share of Total Govern-ment Expendi-ture (%)
Percent of People Ages 15 and Older in Labor Forceb
Women as Percent of Labor Forceb
Total Fertility Ratec
Primary
Secondary
Fe-male
Male
Fe-male
Male
Fe-male
Male
Middle East and North Africa
91
100
62
71
—
—
20
73
20
3.3
Algeria
107
116
73
68
—
16
—
—
—
2.8
Bahrain
103
103
105
98
60
12
19
65
17
2.6
Egypt
96
103
83
88
—
15
20
74
21
3.5
Iran
85
88
75
81
47
18
11
75
12
2
Iraq
91
111
29
47
34
—
17
75
18
5.4
Jordan
101
101
89
86
51
20
22
76
21
3.7
Kuwait
95
93
57
55
68
14
43
83
25
4
Lebanon
97
101
79
72
52
8
27
76
28
2.4
Libya
117
115
—
—
48
—
23
78
21
3.7
Morocco
88
101
35
44
44
25
30
79
28
2.7
Oman
71
74
67
69
58
16
16
79
14
4.1
Palestined
109
107
86
80
47
—
10
67
13
5.7
Qatar
104
105
92
86
73
—
35
92
13
3.5
Saudi Arabia
—
—
—
—
56
23
15
80
11
5.7
Syria
105
113
41
46
—
14
21
83
20
3.8
Tunisia
115
120
80
76
48
20
24
73
24
2.1
Turkey
96
105
48
67
41
15
26
72
27
2.5
United Arab Emirates
99
99
80
71
—
20
31
92
12
3
Yemen
61
96
25
69
21
22
29
82
27
7
- = Data not available.A .Gross enrollment ratio is the number of students, regardless of age, enrolled in school, divided by the total number of people in the appropriate age range for that level of schooling.B .Data on labor force participation may include foreign workers.C .Data shown in this column might be different from those given in previous MIDDLE EAST policy briefs because new data have become available or different sources have been used.D. Palestine inclues the Arab population of the West Bank and Gaza.
Sources: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, "Literacy Statistics" (www.uis.unesco.org, accessed March 11, 2003); United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2002; UN Statistics Division, The World's Women 2000: Trends and Statistics (http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/ww2000/table5d.htm, accessed Aug. 23, 2003); F. Roudi-Fahimi, "Women's Reproductive Health in the Middle East and North Africa" (2003); and C. Haub, 2003 World Population Data Sheet.
Figure 1Literacy Rates Among Young Women in Selected Countries, 1970-2000
Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics, "Literacy Statistics" (www.uis.unesco.org, accessed March 11, 2003).
But great challenges remain. Many people — especially girls — are still excluded from education, and many more are enrolled in school but learning too little to prepare them for 21st-century job markets. In some countries, access to the secondary and higher education that helps create a skilled and knowledgeable labor force continues to be limited; even where access is not a problem, the quality of the education provided is often low. " The most worrying aspect of the crisis in education is education's inability to provide the requirements for the development of Arab societies," according to the 2002 Arab Human Development Report.1
In the increasingly open global economy, countries with high rates of ...