Educational attainment
Topic: Human Capital: Education, Health and Demographic Dividend · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 4 "Human Capital Formation in India"
Meaning
Educational attainment is the level of education a population has completed. It is measured by several indicators:
- adult literacy (people aged 15 and above);
- youth literacy (people aged 15–24);
- primary completion rate;
- mean years of schooling, which is the average number of years adults have studied.
It shows the stock of education in a society, and so a large part of its human capital.
Example
Between 1990 and 2017-18, India's adult literacy rose from 61.9% to 82% for men and from 37.9% to 66% for women. Youth literacy for women rose from 54.2% to 90% over the same period.
Don't confuse with
- Literacy rate (Census): this is only one indicator. It covers people aged 7 and above who can read and write with understanding. India's rate was 74.04% in Census 2011.
- Enrolment: this counts how many students are in school now, not what level people have completed.
Related concepts
- Literacy rate
- Adult literacy rate
- Gender equity in education
- Tertiary education
- Education pyramid
- School dropouts