A report titled ‘Religion and Education Around the World Large’ released by USA-based Pew Research Center says that Hindus continue to have the lowest level of educational attainment among all the major religions of the world.
“Hindus have made substantial educational gains in recent decades. Hindu adults (ages 25 and older) in the youngest generation analysed in the study, for example, have an average of 3.4 more years of schooling than those in the oldest generation,” Pew said.
Drawing on census and survey data from 151 countries this study also finds large gender gaps in educational attainment within some major world religions.
The study notes that globally the average is 5.6 years of schooling and 41% of Hindus have no formal education of any kind.
PEW RESEARCH CENTER Source: PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Only 1 in 10 have post-secondary degrees according to the report.
Hindus also have the largest educational gender gap of any religious group.
“For example, Muslim women around the globe have an average of 4.9 years of schooling, compared with 6.4 years among Muslim men. And formal education is especially low among Hindu women, who have 4.2 years of schooling on average, compared with 6.9 years among Hindu men,” the report said.
It further notes that - “On average, Hindu men have 2.7 more years of schooling than Hindu women, and just over half of Hindu women (53%) have no formal schooling, compared with 29% of Hindu men.”
Adding that even in the youngest generation of adults in the study, Hindu women are considerably more likely than Hindu men to have received no formal education (38% vs 20%).
The vast majority of the world’s Hindus live in India (94%) or in the bordering countries of Nepal (2.3%) and Bangladesh (1.2%).
“In countries outside the Asia-Pacific region, where Hindus are a small religious minority, they are much more highly educated – and often are the most highly educated religious group in a particular country,” the report noted.
PEW RESEARCH CENTER Source: PEW RESEARCH CENTER
For example, Hindus in the US have 15.7 years of schooling, on average and in Europe averaging 13.9 years of schooling.
This report also shows that the global gaps between the highest- and lowest-attaining groups have been narrowing over time due to large gains by Hindus in recent generations.
It notes that "The youngest Hindu adults in the study (those born between 1976 and 1985) have spent an average of 7.1 years in school, almost double the amount of schooling received by the oldest Hindus in the study (those born between 1936 and 1955)."
This 160 pages report notes Jews are more highly educated than any other major religious group around the world.
PEW RESEARCH CENTER Source: PEW RESEARCH CENTER
