Most countries in Latin American and the Caribbean have achieved almost universal primary school coverage and boosted enrollment rates in secondary and tertiary education. Average spending on education reached 4.3 percent of GDP in 2003, up from 2.7 percent in 1990.
But some countries in the region trail far behind comparable nations in other areas of the world. In 1960, Latin America, East Asia, Scandinavia, and Spain had similar levels of school attainment. By 2005, however, Latin America had fallen behind, as measured by the number of children completing 12 years of education. Moreover, the countries of the region are now among the lowest performers in international assessments of student skills, with a high share of students scoring below the minimum threshold in all subjects.
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