The number of children attending school in the world today is higher than ever thanks to the increase in the world's population, according to a report published on Thursday by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
However, the UN organisation regrets that the number of children not attending school is still as high as ever.
"Today, more children than ever are in school and progressing in their education," the UN organisation says in its annual report on education in the world, presented on Thursday.
The number of children in school rose by 110 million between 2015 and 2023, to 1.412 billion.
School completion rates have also risen since 2015, albeit slowly, from 85% to 88% at the primary level and from 53% to 59% at the secondary level. This means 40 million more young people have graduated from secondary school than eight years ago.
However, UNESCO points out that 251 million children are not in school, a drop of just 1% compared with 2015. One-third of all children and teenagers in poor countries have no access to school, compared with just 3% in the world's richest countries.
Exclusion is exacerbated by social norms and poverty, particularly in Afghanistan and Niger, the report points out. At least 1.4 million adolescent girls in Afghanistan have been denied access to secondary education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
The report was presented at UNESCO's global meeting on education, which is being held on 31 October and 1 November in the northeastern Brazilian town of Fortaleza.
