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Appendix A.5. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization

Statistical Yearbook and Global Education Digest

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conducts annual surveys of education statistics of its member countries. Data from official surveys are supplemented by information obtained by UNESCO through other publications and sources. Each year, more than 200 countries reply to the UNESCO surveys. In some cases, estimates are made by UNESCO for particular items, such as world and continent totals. While great efforts are made to make them as comparable as possible, the data still reflect the vast differences among the countries of the world in the structure of education. While there is some agreement about the reporting of primary and secondary data, tertiary-level data (i.e., postsecondary education data) present numerous substantive problems. Some countries report only university enrollment, while other countries report all postsecondary enrollment, including enrollment in vocational and technical schools and correspondence programs. A very high proportion of some countries' tertiary-level students attend institutions in other countries. The member countries that provide data to UNESCO are responsible for their validity. Thus, data for particular countries are subject to nonsampling error and perhaps sampling error as well. Users should examine footnotes carefully to recognize some of the data limitations. UNESCO publishes the data in reports such as the Statistical Yearbook and the Global Education Digest.

Further information on the Statistical Yearbook and the Global Education Digest may be obtained from

UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Publications
C.P. 6128 Succursale Centre-ville
Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3J7
Canada
http://www.uis.unesco.org

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