Education Completion Gap by Household Income: Latest Data, Updated 2026
Household economic position remains closely associated with whether children complete primary and secondary education. The directly verified records presented here compare completion among the poorest 20% and richest 20% of households using official UNESCO education inequality data published or available through the 2026 data cycle.
The headline uses household income as the common search term. The underlying international measure is normally a household wealth quintile derived from an asset index rather than reported cash income.
Completion Gap Statistics
Snapshot values refer to the directly verified country-level wealth pairs in the main table unless stated otherwise.
Country observations were not all collected in 2026. Household surveys are conducted at different intervals, so the latest comparable observation ranges from 2021 to 2024 in the verified table. Every row retains its actual observation year.
Upper Secondary Completion: Poorest and Richest Households
The chart holds education level constant and compares the three verified upper secondary records.
Upper Secondary Completion by Household Wealth
Completion rate among the poorest 20% and richest 20% of households
The separation between the paired bars is the household wealth completion gap. Observation years differ and are retained in the country labels.
Chart analysis
- Honduras records the widest upper secondary gap in the chart: 21% for the poorest quintile and 77% for the richest, a difference of 56 percentage points.
- Costa Rica records 68% completion among the poorest quintile and 97% among the richest quintile.
- Bolivia records 65% completion among the poorest quintile and 88% among the richest quintile.
- The Costa Rica and Bolivia gaps are 29 and 23 percentage points, respectively.
- The comparison describes association by household economic position and does not identify the causes of non-completion.
Verified Household Wealth Completion Records
Rows are ordered by the richest-minus-poorest percentage-point gap. Primary and upper secondary records remain separately labelled.
| Gap rank | Country | Education level | Poorest 20% | Richest 20% | Gap | Parity index | Rich-to-poor ratio | Year | Source series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Honduras | Upper secondary | 21% | 77% | 56 pp | 0.27 | 3.67 | 2023 | UNESCO WIDE household survey series |
| 2 | Cambodia | Primary | 64% | 93% | 29 pp | 0.69 | 1.45 | 2021 | DHS and UNESCO WIDE |
| 3 | Costa Rica | Upper secondary | 68% | 97% | 29 pp | 0.70 | 1.43 | 2024 | National Household Survey and UNESCO UIS |
| 4 | Bolivia, Plurinational State of | Upper secondary | 65% | 88% | 23 pp | 0.74 | 1.35 | 2021 | UNESCO UIS household survey series |
Table analysis
- The displayed gaps range from 23 to 56 percentage points.
- Honduras has both the largest percentage-point gap and the lowest parity index in the verified records.
- Hondurasian richest-quintile completion is about 3.67 times the poorest-quintile rate.
- Cambodia and Costa Rica both record a 29-point gap, but the observations refer to different education levels.
- The richest-quintile completion rate exceeds 75% in every displayed record.
- The poorest-quintile completion rate ranges from 21% to 68%.
- The median gap across the four records is 29 percentage points.
- Gap rank applies only to the four directly verified records and is not a worldwide country ranking.
Long-Run Movement Among the Poorest Quintile
Official country studies provide long-run endpoints for Costa Rica and Bolivia. The endpoint years differ.
Poorest-Quintile Upper Secondary Completion: Earliest and Latest Records
Reported completion percentages for two countries with directly documented long-run endpoints
The bars compare official endpoints rather than annual series. Intermediate-year movement cannot be inferred from the two endpoints alone.
Trend analysis
- Poorest-quintile upper secondary completion in Costa Rica increased from 12% in 2000 to 68% in 2024.
- The Costa Rica endpoint change is 56 percentage points.
- Poorest-quintile upper secondary completion in Bolivia increased from 10% in 2000 to 65% in 2021.
- The Bolivia endpoint change is 55 percentage points.
- The two comparisons cover different time spans and should not be treated as equal-period growth rates.
| Country | Education level | Earliest year | Earliest poorest rate | Latest year | Latest poorest rate | Endpoint change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Costa Rica | Upper secondary | 2000 | 12% | 2024 | 68% | +56 pp |
| Bolivia, Plurinational State of | Upper secondary | 2000 | 10% | 2021 | 65% | +55 pp |
Table analysis
- Both reported series begin with poorest-quintile upper secondary completion near 10% in 2000.
- Both latest endpoint rates exceed 60%.
- The endpoint changes differ by only one percentage point, although Costa Rica includes three additional observation years.
- Endpoint change describes the net difference and does not describe the shape or timing of movement between surveys.
Documented Narrowing of the Wealth Completion Gap
Comparable gap endpoints are available for Cambodia and Bolivia in the cited UNESCO country studies.
| Country | Education level | Earlier year | Earlier gap | Latest year | Latest gap | Gap change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cambodia | Primary | 2005 | 50 pp | 2021 | 29 pp | −21 pp |
| Bolivia, Plurinational State of | Upper secondary | 2005 | 35 pp | 2021 | 23 pp | −12 pp |
Trend analysis
- Cambodia’s primary completion gap declined from 50 to 29 percentage points between the two reported observations.
- Bolivia’s upper secondary completion gap declined from 35 to 23 percentage points.
- Cambodia records the larger endpoint reduction, at 21 percentage points.
- A narrower gap does not establish equal completion; both latest observations retain differences exceeding 20 percentage points.
- Changes in survey design or source series can affect comparability and must be reviewed before extending the calculation to other countries.
How the Household Completion Gap Is Calculated
Three related metrics describe different parts of the same distribution.
| Metric | Calculation | Unit | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Completion gap | Richest rate minus poorest rate | Percentage points | Absolute separation between the two completion rates |
| Parity index | Poorest rate divided by richest rate | Ratio | A value of 1 indicates equal rates; a value below 1 favours the richer group for completion |
| Rich-to-poor ratio | Richest rate divided by poorest rate | Ratio | Shows how many times the richest-quintile rate is relative to the poorest-quintile rate |
Data analysis
- A movement from 40% to 60% equals 20 percentage points, not 20%.
- Two countries can have the same percentage-point gap but different parity indices when their underlying rates differ.
- The percentage-point gap is used as the primary ordering measure because it remains directly readable on a 0%–100% completion scale.
Patterns Behind the Reported Gaps
The records support several distinctions that are lost when only national completion averages are reported.
Equal Gaps Can Describe Different Stages
Cambodia and Costa Rica both record a 29-point gap. Cambodia’s value refers to primary completion, while Costa Rica’s refers to upper secondary completion. The two records should not be placed in a single education-level league table without retaining the level label.
Absolute and Relative Inequality Differ
Honduras records a 56-point gap and a parity index of 0.27. The poorest-quintile rate is therefore only about 27% of the richest-quintile rate, while the richest rate is about 3.67 times the poorest rate.
National Averages Can Conceal the Distribution
A national completion percentage can remain comparatively high even when the poorest household group trails the richest group. Wealth-disaggregated estimates identify that internal separation directly.
Gap Reduction and Completion Growth Are Separate Measures
A gap can narrow because the poorest group rises faster, because the richest group changes, or through movement in both groups. The gap history and the group-specific completion rates should therefore be retained together.
Secondary Completion Carries Additional Barriers
Transport costs, school availability, household work, paid employment, repetition and delayed entry can coincide with non-completion at older ages. The country values do not isolate the contribution of any one mechanism.
Survey Year Remains Part of the Result
Household surveys are less frequent than administrative reporting. A latest-value comparison can therefore combine observations from different years even when every value comes from the newest available official record.
SDG indicator 4.1.2 measures the share of children or young people aged three to five years above the intended age for the final grade who completed the relevant education level. Enrollment in a grade, entry into the final year and on-time graduation are different measures.
The poorest 20% and richest 20% are defined within each national household distribution. The poorest quintile in one country does not represent the same cash income or material living standard as the poorest quintile in another country.
Source and Methodology
The verified table is intentionally narrower than the full WIDE country inventory. It includes only observations for which both wealth-quintile endpoints and the reference year were directly confirmed in official source material. The 2026 label identifies the data review and publication cycle, not a common survey year.
The gap ordering applies only to the displayed official records. Primary and upper secondary completion are separate indicators, and observation years differ by country. Household wealth quintiles represent relative position within each country rather than common international income thresholds. Survey design, sample size, education-level mapping and source changes can affect comparability. The data describe differences in reported completion and do not establish causation.