96 Gender
parity in primary education is improving, with the gender parity index at 96 percent or higher in most developing regions.
Millennium Development Goal 3 : Promote gender equality and empower women
Target : Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by
2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015
Global and regional gender gaps in primary education have generally closed, leaving
the gender parity index at 96 per cent for developing marked however, and girls remain at greater risk than boys of missing out on primary education.
The largest gender gaps at the primary level are in West and Central Africa,
the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia.
Girls from poor and rural households are particularly
at risk of missing out on primary and secondary
education.
