UNICEF statistical review: Progress for Children

On 10 December 2007, UNICEF launched a new publication, Progress for Children: A World Fit for Children Statistical Review. With more than 60 pages of graphs and tables, the report draws a detailed statistical picture of the current state of the world's children. The publication is divided into sections organized by Millennium Development Goal.

• MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education
• MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
• MDG 4: Reduce child mortality
• MDG 5: Improve maternal health
• MDG 6: Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

An additional section has data on protection against abuse, exploitation, and violence.

Some findings of the report in the area of education are:

• The number of children out of school has fallen from 115 million in 2002 to 93 million in 2005-2006.
• More than three quarters of all children out of school worldwide live in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
• Secondary school net attendance or enrollment rates are below 50 percent in many countries, including most of Africa.
• Almost all countries in North and South America, Europe, Central Asia, and East Asia have reached the goal of gender parity in primary education.
• Few countries have reached gender parity in secondary education.
• Child labor, which interferes with education, is most prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Excerpt from Progress for Children: Data on primary and secondary education

Source: UNICEF 2007: p. 14-15.

References

• UNICEF. 2007. Progress for Children: A World Fit for Children Statistical Review. New York: UNICEF. (Download in PDF format, 3.6 MB)