Morocco: almost every child goes to school, yet 60% cannot read a simple text at the end of primary
Out of school: 0.5% of primary-age children (2021). In all 35 countries with data where most cannot read a simple text, more such children are in school than out of it. Egypt: 3% out of school, 56% cannot read.
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The World Bank builds the share of children who cannot read a simple text at the end of primary from two parts: children out of school and pupils below the minimum level. When the first part is under half of the total, most such children sit in class. That holds in every country where the share is above half and out-of-school data exist.
Two bars for one country: the share of primary-age children out of school and the share who cannot read a simple text (those out of school are included in it).
- Morocco: cannot read a simple text %
2021: 59.8
World Bank: learning poverty; UNESCO via the World Bank: out-of-school children
- Morocco: out of primary school %
2021: 0.5
World Bank: learning poverty; UNESCO via the World Bank: out-of-school children
- Egypt: cannot read a simple text %
2021: 56.1
World Bank: learning poverty; UNESCO via the World Bank: out-of-school children
- Egypt: out of primary school %
2021: 3.2
World Bank: learning poverty; UNESCO via the World Bank: out-of-school children
- Argentina: cannot read a simple text %
2019: 59.1
World Bank: learning poverty; UNESCO via the World Bank: out-of-school children
- Argentina: out of primary school %
2019: 0.6
World Bank: learning poverty; UNESCO via the World Bank: out-of-school children
Learning poverty = out of school + (1 − out of school) × share of pupils below the minimum. Pupils who cannot read outnumber children out of school when the share exceeds twice the out-of-school share. Countries: latest estimate from 2016 on and at least 50%; out-of-school share of the nearest year (±2). 35 countries have both; the condition holds in all.
The out-of-school share comes from current UNESCO series and may differ slightly from what the Bank used; the condition holds by a wide margin. Tests differ (PIRLS, PASEC, ERCE, SEA-PLM), so countries are not ranked against each other. Morocco tested at the start of grade 5, children a few months older, which if anything flatters the result.
A question for this picture
And adults? In Chile almost all count as literate, yet more than half manage only simple texts.