Ghana: Primary education, pupils (% female)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2019, Ghana's primary education, pupils (% female) rose 0.03 percentage points on 2018 (from 49.28% to 49.31%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1981 to 2018), the average change was +0.16 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.3 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 1.18 percentage points in 1988 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.65 percentage points in 1975. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2011 to 2019 the straight-line trend is upward, about 0.07 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 88% of the movement over 9 observed years.

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

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 49.59% for 2022. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2017 to 2019 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 0.02%, against 0.03% for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

Closest to Ghana in the 2019 ranking

• Nepal — 1st of 5: 50.61%
• Monaco — 2nd of 5: 49.57%
• Kazakhstan — 4th of 5: 48.99%
• Djibouti — 5th of 5: 46.36%

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)
• Botswana — 48.86% (2015)
• 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.

More education data for Ghana

• Primary school starting age (years) — 6 (2025)
• Primary education, duration (years) — 6 (2025)
• Lower secondary school starting age (years) — 12 (2025)
• Secondary education, duration (years) — 6 (2025)
• Primary education, pupils — 4.98 million (2024)
• School enrollment, primary (% gross) — 100.97% (2024)
• School enrollment, primary, female (% gross) — 100.67% (2024)
• School enrollment, primary, male (% gross) — 101.25% (2024)
• Primary education, teachers — 122,558 (2024)
• School enrollment, primary (gross), gender parity index (GPI) — 1.02 (2020)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

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

49.31% in 2019, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1971?

It is up 4.89 percentage points from 44.43% in 1971. The highest value was 49.31% in 2019 and the lowest 43.22% in 1987.

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

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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