The Education Index is a component of the
Human Development Index
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...
(HDI) published every year by the
United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...
. Alongside the economical indicators (
GDP) and
Life Expectancy Index, it helps measure the
educational attainment.
GNI (PPP) per capita and
life expectancy
Human life expectancy is a statistical measure of the estimate of the average remaining years of life at a given age. The most commonly used measure is ''life expectancy at birth'' (LEB, or in demographic notation ''e''0, where '' ...
are also used with the education index to get the HDI of each country.
Since 2010, the education index has been measured by combining average adult years of schooling with expected years of schooling for students under the age of 25, each receiving 50% weighting. Before 2010, the education index was measured by the adult
literacy
Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...
rate (with two-thirds weighting) and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary
gross enrollment ratio (with one-third weighting).
Education
Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...
is a major component of
well-being
Well-being is what is Intrinsic value (ethics), ultimately good for a person. Also called "welfare" and "quality of life", it is a measure of how well life is going for someone. It is a central goal of many individual and societal endeavors.
...
and is used in the measure of
economic development
In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...
and
quality of life
Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...
, which is a key factor determining whether a country is a
developed,
developing, or
underdeveloped country.
Calculations
A country's education index is calculated with the following formula:
, expected years of schooling, is a calculation of the number of years a student is ''expected'' to attend school, or university. In most countries, a master's degree represents the highest obtainable level of education, and obtaining one reflects 18 years of education. This means that if every student in a country enrolled in a master's degree that country's EYS index would be 1.0.
, mean years of schooling, is a calculation of the average number of years of education a student over the age of 25 has ''actually'' received. It's based on education attainment levels of the population converted into years of schooling based on theoretical duration of each level of education attended. 15 years is the projected maximum of this indicator for 2025 and is thus used as the maximum for the index. This means that a country whose citizens all attained 15 years of education by the age of 25, would have an MYS index of 1.0.
Data
Worldwide education indexes are provided by the UNDP's Human Development Report derived from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and other sources.
See also
*
List of countries by literacy rate
*
School-leaving age
References
External links
Human Development Report OfficeHuman Development Report 2007/2008 - complete(12.0 MB)
Educationwebsite
{{Population country lists
*
Index numbers