Education and Population. Closely linked Trajectories for Pakistan

Pakistan faces high levels of population growth entailing a large population of schooling
age, and low levels of economic development with increasing spread of poverty and
unemployment over the past few decades. Consequently, some 39 percent of 15 to 24 year old
Pakistani women and 21 percent of men were illiterate in 2009 (UNESCO database).1
The prevalence of illiteracy in the country is therefore large, especially among women:
61 percent were illiterate in 2009, compared to 31 percent of men. On the positive
side, enrollment rates point toward progress as 74 percent of children were enrolled
in primary school and two-thirds of children were completing the full 5-year cycle of
primary education. Out of these primary-educated children, 75 percent were moving on
to secondary-level studies. However, universal enrollment of all children aged 5 to 16
years in compulsory education is far from being achieved. More than 7 million children,
mostly those in rural area, are estimated to be out of school.