Botswana: Primary education, pupils (% female)

Key figures

Since 1970 it is down 4.21 percentage points from 53.07% in 1970. The World Bank has no value for 2 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

In 2015, Botswana's primary education, pupils (% female) rose 0.14 percentage points on 2014 (from 48.72% to 48.86%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1982 to 2014), the average change was −0.18 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.19 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.7 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 0.53 percentage points in 1973 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.64 percentage points in 1982. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2006 to 2015 the straight-line trend is downward, about 0.02 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 36% of the movement over 8 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

Closest to Botswana in the 2015 ranking

• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 1st of 9: 49.46%
• Equatorial Guinea — 2nd of 9: 49.1%
• Bermuda — 4th of 9: 48.64%
• Micronesia, Fed. Sts. — 5th of 9: 48.23%
• Tonga — 6th of 9: 47.41%

What this measures

Female pupils as a percentage of total pupils at primary level include enrollments in public and private schools.

Limitations: The percentage of female enrollment is limited in assessing gender parity, because it's affected by the gender composition of population. Ratio of female to male in enrollment rate provides a population adjusted measure of gender parity.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 44 values

Primary education, pupils (% female) in nearby economies

• Angola — 46.86% (2015)
• Benin — 47.67% (2018)
• Burkina Faso — 48.72% (2018)
• Burundi — 50.12% (2018)
• Cabo Verde — 47.8% (2018)
• Cameroon — 47.01% (2018)
• Central African Republic — 43.61% (2016)
• Chad — 43.36% (2016)
• Comoros — 49.08% (2018)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 49.46% (2015)
• Côte d'Ivoire

More education data for Botswana

• Primary school starting age (years) — 6 (2025)
• Primary education, duration (years) — 7 (2025)
• Lower secondary school starting age (years) — 13 (2025)
• Secondary education, duration (years) — 5 (2025)
• School enrollment, tertiary (% gross) — 21.41% (2024)
• School enrollment, primary (gross), gender parity index (GPI) — 0.98 (2021)
• Primary education, pupils — 381,674 (2022)
• School enrollment, primary (% gross) — 109.27% (2022)
• School enrollment, primary, female (% gross) — 108.22% (2022)
• School enrollment, primary, male (% gross)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Botswana's primary education, pupils (% female)?

48.86% in 2015, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1970?

It is down 4.21 percentage points from 53.07% in 1970. The highest value was 55.17% in 1978 and the lowest 48.72% in 2014.

Is the latest change in primary education, pupils (% female) unusual for Botswana?

In 2015, Botswana's primary education, pupils (% female) rose 0.14 percentage points on 2014 (from 48.72% to 48.86%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1982 to 2014), the average change was −0.18 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.19 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.7 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Stat Bulk Data Download Service, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://uis.unesco.org/bdds, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SE.PRM.ENRL.FE.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Stat Bulk Data Download Service, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://uis.unesco.org/bdds, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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