Every child has the right to health, education and protection, and every society has a stake in expanding children's opportunities in life. Yet, around the world, millions of children are denied a fair chance for no reason other than the country, gender or circumstances into which they are born. The "State of the World's Children 2016"…

Psacharopoulos has found a declining rate-of-return to education pattern across levels of per capita income, using international data. A reexamination of Psacharopoulos's cross-country data refutes his declining rate-of-return hypothesis and points to diversity of cross-country experience as a possibly significant factor in interpreting the data.…

This report is devoted to the role and effectiveness of the state: what the state should do, how it should do it, and how it can do it better in a rapidly changing world. The pathways to an effective state are many and varied. The report provides a framework for guiding these efforts, in the form of a two-part strategy. The first part of the…

Recent literature on Brazilian educational finance has documented low expenditure levels and problems of efficiency, efficacy, and equity. This paper analyzes financial data from Bahia state "municipios" and examines revenue and expenditure trends to explain variations in financial commitment across "municipios." Local interest…

This study examines the impact of the Asian financial crisis on children in Indonesia. Data from four rounds of the 100 Villages Survey are used to examine changes in school attendance rates, child labor force participation, and health status. These data cover over 120 households in each of 100 villages around Indonesia and were collected prior to…

Problems in employment and education in Mexico will remain in spite of the rapid economic growth expected from the expanding petroleum industry. The structural problems of the job market and education are analyzed with particular reference to higher education. Commentary by Michael Olivas accompanies this article. (JMF)

Demography is the scientific study of populations. Population change has an impact on every facet of life. This revised handbook contains additional information on how to calculate the total fertility rate and life tables. The purpose of the handbook is to clarify and explain demographic terminology, to aid public understanding, and to assist…

This statistical handbook is a user-friendly, up-to-date resource, and provides a thorough examination of the causes, effects, and ramifications of poverty throughout the developing world. The handbook contains more than 400 tables, graphs, and charts. In addition, it includes two special sections which contain information not consistently…

Worldwide enrollment in primary education has grown from 332 million in 1960 to 593 million in 1988. Despite this increase, a sizable proportion of primary school-age children in developing countries are not enrolled in school. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 56 million students are enrolled in primary education, but 38 million (49%) of the region's…

An April-May 1976 nationwide sample of more than 800 schools in rural Pakistan provides data to form composite pictures of the typical boys school and girls school. An observation checklist records such aspects as: (1) government ownership of building; (2) structural soundness and maintenance of walls, roof, veranda, steps, floors, windows; (3)…

This document provides a preliminary set of environmental indicators by which to measure environmental performance. The indicators are patterned on the outline of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) "Report on the State of the Environment," a companion volume published in the same year. This volume is…

Using a data set of 123 countries, the status of youth was analyzed on a global scale. The relative proportions of youth and adult populations and the opportunities nations provided their young people were evaluated. The implications of inter-age and intra-age stratification throughout the world are discussed. (SLD)

Worldwide educational indicators are presented in tables and graphs by region. The indicators are selected to highlight the International Literacy Year and Education for All, two programs of particular importance to the United Nations. Data are presented for the school years beginning in 1970, 1975, 1980, and select years up to 1987. The terms…

Profiling the lives of children around the world at the end of the 20th century, this report calls on the international community to undertake the urgent actions necessary to realize the rights of every child. Part 1 of the report summarizes the progress made over the last decade in meeting the goals established at the 1990 World Summit for…

Ideological arguments are made for open learning, economic ones for distance education. If it can produce similar results to those of conventional education at a lower cost, then distance education has a powerful appeal. With increasing demand for access to educational opportunities at all levels, and often decreasing budgets in real terms for…