Education in Asia

The following table is taken from information gathered in the CIA World Factbook. Unless otherwise noted, a country’s reported literacy rate reflects the percentage of people aged 15 years and over who can read and write.{{Cite web |title=Literacy - The World Factbook |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/literacy/ |access-date=2025-02-20 |website=www.cia.gov}}

File:Nakano Junior and Senior High School Attached to Meiji University.JPG, an example of an affiliation of primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions common in China, Japan, and Korea.]]

File:Hall of Classics (Guozijian), Peking; a triple archway Wellcome L0055609.jpg, in Beijing, China, which was the foremost Chinese institution of higher education throughout the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. During the imperial era of China, only a small fraction of the population received formal education.]]

File:9 Peking University.jpg, the modern successor of the Guozijian and a top-ranked university in China, Asia, and globally.]]

The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) is a component of the Education Index. It expresses the number of students enrolled in a given level of education as a percentage of the number of people within the official age for that level of education. GER can exceed 100% because some enrolled students may fall outside the official age range.

The tables below show GER for each country in Asia. It is organized into five regions of population: South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, West Asia and Central Asia. Data is shown for four levels of education: pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary. (Tertiary education is also referred to as higher education).

The last year for which data are available is shown in parentheses following each number in the table. If the year is the same as for the column to the left, the year is omitted.

As Asian nations compete in the global economy and aspire to join the developed nations, there is concern that rates of education may not be keeping pace.{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Higher-education-enrolment-rate-dismal-in-Bihar/articleshow/49974690.cms |title=Higher education enrollment rate dismal in Bihar | work=The Times of India | first=B.K. |last=Mishra |date=November 29, 2015}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xc0f9YtiaoMC | last = Bharucha | first = Jamshed | date = 2013 | title=Education in South Asia: Time bomb or silver bullet? | work= In A. Najam & M. Yusuf (Eds.), South Asia 2060: Envisioning Regional Futures. |location=NY |publisher=Anthem Press| isbn = 9780857280749 }} By comparison, Gross Enrollment Rates for North America and Western Europe in 2013 were 84.3% for pre-primary, 101.1% for primary, 105.1% for secondary, and 76.6% for tertiary education.

Many Asian nations lack the capacity to scale up their enrollment to meet the escalating demand.{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/90-surge-but-big-demand-supply-gap/articleshow/8909625.cms? |title=90% surge but big demand-supply gap | work=The Times of India | first=Subodh |last=Varma |date=June 19, 2011}}

There is also concern about a quality gap, as nations seek to scale up their enrollment quickly.{{cite news |url=http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20110722202005936 |title=INDIA: A crisis of confidence in higher education? | work=University World News | first=Rahul |last=Choudaha |date=July 24, 2011}}{{cite news |url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/100-cut-off-symptom-of-a-disease-says-yash-pal-111061700085_1.html |title=100% cut-off symptom of a disease, says Yash Pal | work=Business Standard | first=Kalpana |last=Pathak |date=June 17, 2011}} A recent HSBC survey of 8400 parents in 15 Asia-Pacific countries revealed that parents from Hong Kong spend the most on their children's education to ensure a quality education that increases their competitiveness in the labor market.{{Cite news|url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Economy/Asian-parents-among-top-spenders-on-education|title=Asian parents among top spenders on education - Nikkei Asian Review|work=Nikkei Asian Review|access-date=2017-10-06|language=en}} On average, parents in Hong Kong spend an average of $132,100 per child, which is almost three times as much as the global amount of $44,200. Singapore and Taiwan followed with education expenditures of $70,939 and $56,400 respectively.

There is concern about a gap between the education sought by the labor market and what is being taught in the educational institutions.{{cite news |url=http://www.financialexpress.com/article/economy/can-india-harness-its-demographic-dividend/26034/ |title=Can India harness its demographic dividend? | work=Financial Express | first=Nishant |last=Arya |date=January 5, 2015}}

Many Asian countries - mostly in East Asia and Southeast Asia - experienced a demographic dividend that boosted their economies during the past few decades. There is a widespread view that the South Asian countries are poised to benefit from a demographic dividend because their populations are young relative to the developed countries.{{cite news |url=http://zeenews.india.com/news/narendra-modi-in-us/india-blessed-with-democracy-demographic-dividend-and-demand-pm-modi-at-msg_1477180.html |title=India blessed with democracy, democratic dividend and demand: PM Modi at Madison Square Garden | work=Zeenews | first=Hemant |last=Abhishek |date=September 29, 2014}} However, reaping this dividend is expected to require a workforce that is well educated, which means, at a minimum, increasing enrollment rates and educational quality.

Even though many Asian nations still have low GER compared with their North American and Western European counterparts, there has been considerable progress in recent years. For example, consider the change in GER over ten years preceding the latest data reported, for the three most populous Asian countries: China, India and Indonesia. All three countries had achieved virtually universal primary education (close to 100%) before this ten-year period, so consider the other three levels. Over a ten-year period, China's GER increased from 40% to 74% for pre-primary, from 60% to 92% for secondary, and from 15% to 30% for tertiary education. India's GER increased from 25% to 58% for pre-primary, from 48% to 71% for secondary, and from 11% to 25% for tertiary education. Indonesia's GER increased from 26% to 51% for pre-primary, from 61% to 83% for secondary, and from 15% to 32% for tertiary education.{{cite web |url=http://www.university-analytics.net/#!global-education/vphur |title=University Analytics: Global Education |access-date=2015-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208142313/http://www.university-analytics.net/#!global-education/vphur |archive-date=2015-12-08 |url-status=dead }}

• School leaving age

{{reflist}}

{{Asia topics}}