North America - Children out of school, primary

The value for Children out of school, primary in North America was 231,759 as of 2019. As the graph below shows, over the past 45 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 4,595,664 in 1974 and a minimum value of 90,004 in 2016.

Definition: Children out of school are the number of primary-school-age children not enrolled in primary or secondary school.

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (http://uis.unesco.org/)

See also:

Year Value
1974 4,595,664
1975 4,497,410
1976 4,148,437
1977 3,955,763
1978 3,745,398
1979 3,734,006
1980 2,049,225
1981 2,043,857
1982 1,516,069
1983 1,740,555
1984 1,916,761
1985 1,809,877
1986 1,445,918
1987 1,060,186
1988 822,007
1989 577,564
1990 335,636
1991 282,054
1992 503,757
1993 764,771
1994 932,411
1995 753,054
1996 1,001,290
1997 813,624
1998 625,032
1999 485,148
2000 569,221
2001 628,980
2002 683,071
2003 600,604
2004 520,806
2005 210,807
2006 202,623
2007 160,072
2008 142,640
2009 427,243
2010 511,361
2011 600,584
2012 646,997
2013 724,323
2014 512,449
2015 455,638
2016 90,004
2017 107,601
2018 146,692
2019 231,759

Development Relevance: Large numbers of children out of school create pressure to enroll children and provide classrooms, teachers, and educational materials, a task made difficult in many countries by limited education budgets. However, getting children into school is a high priority for countries and crucial for achieving universal primary education.

Limitations and Exceptions: Due to different data sources for enrollment and population data, the number may not capture the actual number of children not attending in primary school.

Other Notes: Data retrieved via API in March 2019. For detailed information on the observation level (e.g. National Estimation, UIS Estimation, or Category not applicable), please visit UIS.Stat (http://data.uis.unesco.org/).

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The number of out-of-school children is calculated by subtracting the number of primary school-age children enrolled in primary or secondary school from the total population of the official primary school-age children. Data on education are collected by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics from official responses to its annual education survey. All the data are mapped to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) to ensure the comparability of education programs at the international level. The current version was formally adopted by UNESCO Member States in 2011. Population data are drawn from the United Nations Population Division. Using a single source for population data standardizes definitions, estimations, and interpolation methods, ensuring a consistent methodology across countries and minimizing potential enumeration problems in national censuses. The reference years reflect the school year for which the data are presented. In some countries the school year spans two calendar years (for example, from September 2010 to June 2011); in these cases the reference year refers to the year in which the school year ended (2011 in the example).

Aggregation method: Sum

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Education Indicators

Sub-Topic: Participation