101 million The number of children of primary school age who are out of school was 101 million in 2007.
Millennium
Development Goal 2 : Achieve universal primary education
Target : Ensure that by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling
Universal education might seem a relatively straightforward goal, but it has proven as difficult as any to achieve. Decades after commitments and reaffirmations of those commitments have been made to ensure a quality education for every child, some 101 million children are still denied this right.
However, attendance data based on household surveys show that the number of children of primary school age who are out of school has declined markedly in recent years, from 115 million in 2002 to 101 million in 2007. This is substantial progress, and many countries are close to delivering universal primary education.
