APA RESEARCH PAPER

APA Research Paper

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 ...