Education: Girls are catching up with boys in sub-Saharan Africa

Jul 11, 2022

With the collaboration of Statista.

The gender gap in the system of education in Africa is reducing. Image: Unsplash/Doug Linstedt

Martin Armstrong

Data Journalist, Statista

In sub-Saharan Africa there is still room for improvement in levels of participation in education, regardless of gender.
However, the gender educational gap is reducing: in 2020, 66% of girls completed their primary education compared to 61% for boys.
Despite being ahead in primary education, girls still remain behind boys at lower and upper secondary levels, but these gaps are closing.

In Africa, progress has been made in a lot of areas over the last few decades. This is something we have regularly covered in our infographics, and this, using figures from UNESCO as quoted by the BBC, reveals another aspect which has seen positive developments of late.

Participation in education is still an issue with room for improvement in sub-Saharan Africa, regardless of gender, but for girls as recently as 2000, the problem was even more acute. At primary level, just 44 percent of girls were completing their education 22 years ago. In 2020, that figure had risen to 66 percent, and had even overtaken the rate for boys (despite healthy gains, too).

Education in Africa and gender gap

Girls remain behind boys at lower and upper secondary levels, but the gaps have been reduced in the past two decades - going from 5 percentage points at lower secondary level to just two points, and from 6 points at upper secondary level to 3 in 2020.

Education in Africa: Participation in education is still an issue with room for improvement in sub-Saharan Africa. Image: Statista

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