Education in Africa: 2024 IIAG overview
24 January, 2025
Africa has made huge strides in education over the past few decades.
The continent has progressed with more children finishing school than ever before. This is mainly attributed to the rising numbers of girls in education and pupils in tertiary education.
According to UNESCO, between 2000 and 2022, primary school completion rates rose from 52% to 67%. The rate of high school dropouts have also slowed with completion rates at 50% (up from 35%) for pupils in lower secondary and 33% (up from 23%) for pupils in upper secondary.
2024 IIAG shows Education improving from 2014-2023
The 2024 IIAG also shows that Africa has been progressing in the Education sub-category between 2014 and 2023, gaining 2.4 points.
The positive trend in the Education sub-category is mainly driven by progress in Education Completion (+6.1).
| Indicator | Score (2023) | 10-year change (2014-2023) |
|---|---|---|
| Education Completion | 51.2 | +6.1 |
| Equality in Education | 49.2 | +2.8 |
| Human Resources in Education | 83.6 | +2.5 |
| Education Enrolment | 43.5 | +2.4 |
| Education Quality | 41.4 | +1.7 |
| Public Perception of Education Provision | 55.2 | -0.3 |
With a score of 50.7 in 2023, the continent has reached above 50.0 but there is greater scope for progress. For almost 2/3rd of Africa’s population, living in 40 countries, Education has improved since 2014 – with 23% of Africa's population living in a total of 17 countries where the pace of improvement has even accelerated since 2019.
Africa: Education sub-category scores (2014-2023)
Only two countries have as score above 80.0 points: Mauritius (85.4, 1st) and Seychelles (81.6, 2nd). 28 countries have a score above the African average of 50.7.
Despite being among the most improved countries, Somalia is bottom-ranked in the Education sub-category with a score of 10.0.
