Editing Arab world (section)

===Education===
{{Main|Higher education in the Arab world}}
[[File:Girls lining up for class - Flickr - Al Jazeera English.jpg|thumb|[[Palestinians|Palestinian]] schoolgirls in [[Gaza City|Gaza]] lining up for class, 2009]]
According to [[UNESCO]], the average rate of [[adult literacy]] (ages 15 and older) in this region [[List of countries by literacy rate|is 78%]]. In Mauritania the rate is lower than the average, at less than 50%. [[Bahrain]], [[Palestine]], [[Kuwait]], [[Qatar]],  and [[Jordan]] record a high adult literacy rate of over 95%.<ref>{{cite report |author=Global Education Monitoring Report Team |date=2015 |title=Regional overview: Arab States |url= https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000232576|publisher=UNESCO |page= |docket= ED/EFA/MRT/2015/RO/02 REV 2|access-date=23 November 2023 |quote=}}</ref> The average rate of adult literacy shows steady improvement, and the absolute number of adult illiterates fell from 64 million to around 58&nbsp;million between 1990 and 2000–2004.<ref name="UNESCO2007">{{cite web|url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001489/148972E.pdf | title=Regional overview: Arab States | publisher=UNESCO | year=2007 | access-date=6 April 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070605065202/http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001489/148972E.pdf | archive-date=5 June 2007 | url-status=live }}</ref>

Overall, the gender disparity in adult literacy is high in this region, and of the illiteracy rate, women account for two-thirds, with only 69 literate women for every 100 literate men. The average GPI (Gender Parity Index) for adult literacy is 0.72, and gender disparity can be observed in Egypt, Morocco, and Yemen. Above all, the GPI of Yemen is only 0.46 in a 53% adult literacy rate.<ref name="UNESCO2007"/>

Literacy rate is higher among the [[Youth in the Arab world|youth]] than adults. Youth literacy rate (ages 15–24) in the Arab region increased from 63.9 to 76.3% from 1990 to 2002. The average rate of [[Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC)|GCC states]] was 94%, followed by the [[Maghreb]] at 83.2% and the [[Mashriq]] at 73.6%.<ref>{{cite web |title=السعودية ترحب بتقرير اللجنة الوطنية اليمنية |url=http://arabwindow.net/cat/gulf/ |website=arabwindow.net |access-date=11 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161004140510/http://arabwindow.net/cat/gulf/ |archive-date=4 October 2016 |language=ar |date=4 October 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[United Nations]] published an [[Arab human development report]] in 2002, 2003 and 2004. These reports, written by researchers from the Arab world, address some sensitive issues in the development of Arab countries: women empowerment, availability of education and information among others.