Children out of school — all countries

Children out of school — Middle East & North Africa

Children out of school in Middle East & North Africa in 2023 — 1,804,478 people. Since 1978, the indicator has fallen by 65.5%.

2023 1.8M people +19.15% vs 2022
World rank
Period maximum 7.19M people1999
Period minimum 1.05M people2015

Trend over time

1978–2023 · people

Children out of school — Middle East & North Africa, 1978–202302M4M6M8M19781983198819931998200320082013201820231978: 5,232,778 people1981: 2,727,806 people1983: 2,852,150 people1985: 3,779,789 people1999: 7,194,373 people2000: 5,073,695 people2001: 4,221,320 people2002: 2,596,067 people2003: 4,295,745 people2004: 4,128,771 people2005: 3,632,308 people2006: 2,706,886 people2007: 3,084,960 people2010: 3,839,461 people2011: 2,678,781 people2012: 3,709,206 people2013: 2,931,620 people2014: 2,709,454 people2015: 1,050,894 people2016: 3,987,839 people2017: 2,136,211 people2018: 1,584,298 people2019: 1,444,740 people2020: 2,333,521 people2021: 2,118,017 people2022: 1,514,449 people2023: 1,804,478 people
Change over the period: −3.43M (−65.52%) Average annual rate: -2.34 %

Comparison, 2023

How the value compares with the world and the groups this territory belongs to: Middle East & North Africa

Middle East & North Africa 1.8M people
World computed 44.51M people
Children out of school — Middle East & North Africa, by year Middle East & North Africa All countries CSV XLSX
Year people Change Change, %
2023 1.8M +290,029 +19.15%
2022 1.51M −603,568 −28.5%
2021 2.12M −215,504 −9.24%
2020 2.33M +888,781 +61.52%
2019 1.44M −139,558 −8.81%
2018 1.58M −551,913 −25.84%
2017 2.14M −1.85M −46.43%
2016 3.99M +2.94M +279.47%
2015 1.05M −1.66M −61.21%
2014 2.71M −222,166 −7.58%
2013 2.93M −777,586 −20.96%
2012 3.71M +1.03M +38.47%
2011 2.68M −1.16M −30.23%
2010 3.84M
2007 3.08M +378,074 +13.97%
2006 2.71M −925,422 −25.48%
2005 3.63M −496,463 −12.02%
2004 4.13M −166,974 −3.89%
2003 4.3M +1.7M +65.47%
2002 2.6M −1.63M −38.5%
2001 4.22M −852,375 −16.8%
2000 5.07M −2.12M −29.48%
1999 7.19M
1985 3.78M
1983 2.85M
1981 2.73M
1978 5.23M

About the indicator

The number of children of primary school age who attend neither primary nor secondary school. The absolute count answers the question of the scale of the task rather than of the state of a country, and for that reason it diverges from the share: a large part of all out-of-school children in the world lives in a few big countries where the share is low, not in those where the share is high. Both numbers matter for planning, and together they produce different lists of priorities.

Important: Primary school age only. Adolescents who do not attend secondary school are not part of this series, although there are more of them.

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), license CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.