School Enrollment Inequality Index for Latin America and the Caribbean

Latin America and Caribbean data from the Human Opportunities Index measures inequality in access to school enrollment. The index, developed by the LAC Equity Lab, calculates coverage rates and distribution equality based on seven household and child circumstances. It provides a standardized metric for tracking progress in educational opportunity.

Use Cases

• Model the relationship between household per capita income and the HOI score to assess economic barriers to enrollment.
• Analyze the effect of parents' education level on school enrollment inequality across different countries.
• Compare HOI scores between urban and rural residence areas to identify geographic disparities in access.
• Investigate how the gender of the child and the gender of the household head interact to influence opportunity scores.

Strengths

• Index incorporates seven specific circumstance variables: child gender, parents' education, household income, number of siblings, parental presence, household head gender, and location.
• Provides a dual metric capturing both average access rate (coverage) and the equality of its distribution.

Limitations

• Specific row count, time range, and geographic coverage within Latin America and the Caribbean are not provided.
• Underlying microdata for recalculating or validating the index is not included, limiting granular analysis.

Provenance

Source

LAC Equity Lab, hosted by the World Bank.

Collection Method

Calculation of an economic index based on household survey data measuring access to essential services.

Geography

Latin America and the Caribbean (specific countries not listed).