Inclusion and education

FIGURE 3.1: 
Out-of-school rates have halved in the region in the past 20 years
Out-of-school rate of adolescents and youth, Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Turkey, 1998–2019
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1998
2001
2004
Central and Eastern Europe
Central and Eastern Europe
Central Asia
Central Asia
Turkey
Youth of upper secondary school age
Adolescents of lower secondary school age
2007
2010
2013
2016
2019
%
Source: 
UIS database.
FIGURE 3.2: 
Surveys allow education attainment to be disaggregated by wealth
Upper secondary school completion rate, by wealth, selected countries, 2012–19
100
0
40
20
60
80
Turkmenistan, 2015
Ukraine, 2012
Croatia, 2014
Czechia, 2014
Kazakhstan, 2015
Slovenia, 2014
Bosnia/Herzeg., 2011
Poland, 2014
Slovakia, 2014
Serbia, 2014
Belarus, 2012
Lithuania, 2014
N. Macedonia, 2019
Russian Fed., 2013
Montenegro, 2018
Hungary, 2014
Latvia, 2014
Estonia, 2014
Georgia, 2018
Romania, 2014
Kyrgyzstan, 2014
Bulgaria, 2014
Albania, 2017
Armenia, 2018
Mongolia, 2018
Rep. Moldova, 2013
Turkey, 2019
Tajikistan, 2012
%
Average
Richest 20%
Poorest 20%
Sources
: World Inequality Database on Education. The value for Turkey is from Eurostat (2020).
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C E N T R A L A N D E A S T E R N E U R O P E , C A U C A S U S A N D C E N T R A L A S I A

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nomads, seasonal and migrant workers, the homeless, 
and those living in areas affected by conflict or insecurity, 
who are often among the poorest (Carr-Hill, 2013). More 
generally, censuses are costly and therefore infrequent 
and contain few questions.
Surveys, especially those from cross-national and hence 
more standardized programmes, have put a spotlight on 
the education progression of population groups defined 
by single characteristics or their intersections. Survey 
data, which are available for almost all countries in the 
region, can be disaggregated by various characteristics, 
notably wealth, a measure of socio-economic status. 
While secondary school completion rates exceed 90% in 
10 out of 23 countries in the region with disaggregated 
data, on average, for youth in the richest 20% of 
households they exceed 90% in all countries except the 
Republic of Moldova and Tajikistan. In Mongolia, 94% of 
the richest youth, but only 37% of the poorest, completed 
secondary school in 2018 (
Figure 3.2
).
Multiple characteristics can intersect to push people 
deeper into education disadvantage. There are gender 
gaps among those already disadvantaged by poverty, 
for instance. Analysis of World Inequality Database on 
Education data shows that secondary school completion 
rates among the poorest 20% vary by sex. In countries 
with nomadic populations in Central Asia, young men are 
at a disadvantage, except in Tajikistan, where, for instance, 
the gender gap between the poorest rural males and 
females was 22 percentage points in 2017. The poorest 
males have a disadvantage of about 15 percentage 
points in Estonia and Poland but an advantage of up to 
20 percentage points in Bulgaria and North Macedonia 
(
Figure 3.3
).
Many countries identify specific groups as vulnerable 
in constitutions, social inclusion legislation, education 
legislation or documents directly related to inclusive 
education. The group most identified is people with 
disabilities, but ethnic and linguistic minorities, rural and