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Home » Data » Search by Topic » Literacy and educational attainment

Literacy and educational attainment

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Description

Literacy levels and educational attainment serve as indicators of the knowledge and skills that a population possesses. For individuals, literacy and other skills gained through education provide fundamental tools for life-long learning; they also enhance opportunities for economic participation and social engagement. For societies, improved literacy and educational attainment bolster human capital resources and economic growth. They are also linked to social welfare and poverty reduction as is the case, for example, among educated women, who typically have fewer children and offer better health care and educational opportunities to those children.

While indicators of literacy and educational attainment both capture information about the human capital resources of a population, caution should be used with educational attainment levels which, unlike literacy, do not necessarily testify to mastery of a particular skill or provide information about the quality of education achieved. Additionally, data reliability may be impacted in cases where literacy is self-reported rather than tested. EPDC educational attainment data are not cumulative, meaning that the percentage of the population with an educational attainment of primary school does not include any population members who have also attained secondary-level education.

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  • Research
  • Profiles
  • Other research documents
  • Household Survey Guidelines on Education Appendices
  • Using Opportunity to Learn and Early Grade Reading Fluency to Measure School Effectiveness in Mozambique
  • Using Opportunity to Learn and Early Grade Reading Fluency to Measure School Effectiveness in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nepal
  • Using Opportunity to Learn and Early Grade Reading Fluency to Measure School Effectiveness in Nepal
  • Using Opportunity to Learn and Early Grade Reading Fluency to Measure School Effectiveness in Honduras
  • Using Opportunity to Learn and Early Grade Reading Fluency to Measure School Effectiveness in Ethiopia
  • Using Opportunity to Learn and Early Grade Reading Fluency to Measure School Effectiveness in Guatemala
  • EQUIP2 Lessons Learned in Education: Student Assessment
  • Examining the Role of International Achievement Tests in Education Policy Reform
  • Literacy data: More, but not always better
  • Does Horizontal Education Inequality Lead to Violent Conflict?
  • Investment in Equity and Peacebuilding: Uganda Case Study
  • Investment in Equity and Peacebuilding: South Africa Case Study
  • Horizontal Inequality in Education and Violent Conflict Literature Review
  • The Economic Costs of Educational Inequality in Developing Countries
  • The Effects of Armed Conflict on Educational Attainment and Inequality
  • The Long-Term Effects of Universal Primary Education: Evidence from Ethiopia, Malawi, and Uganda
  • The Effects of Armed Conflict on Educational Attainment and Inequality
  • Afghanistan Education Inequality Profile
  • Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Education Inequality Profile
  • Ethiopia Education Inequality Profile
  • Mean years of schooling by ethnic and religious group
  • CIES 2016 - Economic Costs of Education Inequality
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EPDC provides global education data, tools for data visualization, and policy-oriented analysis aimed at improving schools and learning in developing countries.
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