Fig. 2. Enrolment versus learning by region, conditional on country-fixed effects.

a, b, We have 72 countries with data in primary school with at least two data points for the analysed time period (2000–2015) for enrolment (a) and learning (b). Estimates are calculated controlling for country-fixed effects using multivariate regression by region. For each region and outcome y (primary enrolment and learning), we estimate the following specification: $y_{ct}^r={\alpha }^r+{\beta }^{r}t+{\mathbf{\delta }}_c^r+{\epsilon }_{ct}^r$where t represents the year and δ represents a vector of dummy variables for each country c in a given region r. On the basis of this regression, we recover regional time trends accounting for country-fixed effects. The data in this figure include primary enrolment rates. This measure captures the ratio of all individuals enrolled in a given level of schooling to the population of the age group that should be enrolled at that level according to national regulations or customs accounting for grade repetition. This measure has frequently been used in the literature^26,29,32. Learning estimates are taken from our database.