UNESCO Institute for Statistics indicator MOGER.5T8.40520.GPIA compares the female and male values of the mobile outbound gross enrolment ratio for tertiary students whose study destination is Latin America and the Caribbean. The verified extract contains 191 origin economies and territories, all observed in 2023. The adjusted gender parity index is centered on 1, with 0.97–1.03 commonly used by UIS as a practical parity band.
The center of this destination-specific distribution sits close to parity: the median is 1.040 and the mean 0.982. Yet only 5 of 191 observations actually fall inside 0.97–1.03. There are 89 below the band and 97 above it. That combination makes this a useful example of why a median near 1 does not imply that most individual origins are near parity.
Table of Contents
What the adjusted index does around the value 1
A conventional gender parity index is based on the female value divided by the male value. The adjusted version is designed so that equivalent differences on either side of parity are represented symmetrically and the theoretical scale is bounded from 0 to 2. Values close to 1 indicate similar female and male values of the underlying indicator; values below 1 point to a lower female value and values above 1 to a higher female value.
That wording is important because the underlying indicator is not a general education score. It is a destination-specific outbound tertiary mobility rate. A value above 1 does not mean that an education system is performing better, and a value below 1 does not by itself prove educational disadvantage. The indicator describes how the female and male mobility rates compare for study directed to Latin America and the Caribbean.
Only five origins are inside the parity band
The five reported origins inside 0.97–1.03 are Portugal at 0.990, Kyrgyzstan at 0.993, Vanuatu at 0.993, Austria at 0.997, and Eritrea at 1.012. They are the only 5 observations whose adjusted index lies within the narrow practical parity band.
Outside that band, 89 origins fall on the lower side and 97 on the upper side. The median is slightly above 1 because the middle observation lies on the upper side, but the underlying distribution is broad enough that an exact country-level view is more informative than the central statistic alone.
Nine origins reach the adjusted index ceiling
Iceland, Malta, Mauritius, Niue, Palau, Somalia, Slovenia, Eswatini, and Tonga each report 2.000, the theoretical upper bound of the adjusted index. Bahrain follows at 1.927. In total, 35 reported origins have values of 1.5 or more.
| Rank | Origin economy | GPIA |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Palau | 2.000 |
| 2 | Somalia | 2.000 |
| 3 | Slovenia | 2.000 |
| 4 | Eswatini | 2.000 |
| 5 | Malta | 2.000 |
| 6 | Mauritius | 2.000 |
| 7 | Tonga | 2.000 |
| 8 | Niue | 2.000 |
| 9 | Iceland | 2.000 |
| 10 | Bahrain | 1.927 |
A value of 2 should not be translated into a statement that female student numbers are exactly twice male student numbers. GPIA is a transformation of sex-specific indicator values. Recovering absolute numbers or the original female and male mobility rates requires separate underlying series.
Official zeroes are not missing observations
At the lower end, Cambodia, Mauritania, Malawi, Tajikistan, and Samoa are officially reported at 0.000. South Africa follows at 0.122, Montserrat at 0.133, South Sudan at 0.145, Sudan at 0.152, and Palestine at 0.165.
| Rank | Origin economy | GPIA |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malawi | 0.000 |
| 2 | Mauritania | 0.000 |
| 3 | Cambodia | 0.000 |
| 4 | Samoa | 0.000 |
| 5 | Tajikistan | 0.000 |
| 6 | South Africa | 0.122 |
| 7 | Montserrat | 0.133 |
| 8 | South Sudan | 0.145 |
| 9 | Sudan | 0.152 |
| 10 | Palestine | 0.165 |
The five zeroes are preserved because they are official source values. They are not substitutes for unreported countries. The catalogue also contains places with no reported row in this extract, including Brazil, Colombia and the United States. Those units remain missing rather than being added at zero.
The world map shows origins, not destination countries
Joining country codes to a low-resolution world boundary layer produces polygons for 158 of the 191 reported origins, a match rate of about 82.7%. Some small states and territories have official data but no separate polygon in the base geometry. Their values remain in rankings and summary statistics.
Latin America and the Caribbean is the destination category embedded in the indicator. The colored locations are origins. An economy in Europe, Asia, Africa or Oceania appears because the series asks how its female and male outbound tertiary mobility rates compare for study in that destination region.
Destination-specific mobility is narrower than total study abroad
A country can be close to parity across all tertiary study abroad while showing a larger gender difference for one destination, or it can display the opposite pattern. Destination choice can be associated with languages, programmes, scholarship networks, cost, visa pathways and historical links, but this dataset does not contain those explanatory variables.
The safest interpretation is therefore descriptive: the series identifies where the sex-specific outbound mobility rates toward Latin America and the Caribbean are similar and where they differ. Explaining why they differ requires additional data rather than inference from GPIA alone.
A median near 1 hides very wide tails
The first quartile is 0.544 and the third quartile 1.342. There are 40 observations below 0.5 and 35 at or above 1.5. That is a wide spread around a median of 1.040. The mean of 0.982 is actually below the median because several very low values pull the arithmetic average downward while the upper side is capped at 2.
This shape is a useful reminder that central tendency and parity are different concepts. A median around 1 can coexist with only a few origins inside the parity interval because many observations are far below and far above the center.
The lowest and highest cases make the range visible
Looking at both tails on one scale is more useful than treating the table as a conventional league ranking. A move from 0.2 to 0.5 and a move from 1.8 to 1.5 both represent movement toward parity, even though one set of values rises and the other falls. Distance from 1 is therefore an important part of reading GPIA.
Examples show that the same destination produces different sex patterns
Canada reports 1.046, Japan 1.180, China 1.100, India 0.743, Mexico 1.070, Argentina 1.242, and Spain 1.248. The values cross both sides of parity even though every row refers to the same destination region and the same year.
Republic of Korea records 1.115 in 2023, above 1 and outside the 0.97–1.03 parity band. That describes this specific destination route only; it does not summarize all international study or gender parity in domestic tertiary enrolment.
Why GPIA cannot replace student counts
The parity index normalizes the relationship between two sex-specific mobility rates. It deliberately does not tell us the size of the flow. A small origin can reach an extreme index with a limited number of mobile students, while a large origin near 1 can send far more students in absolute terms.
A volume analysis would need the underlying counts of outbound tertiary students by sex and destination. GPIA is most useful when the question is about relative female–male balance, while counts answer how large the route actually is.
What the indicator cannot establish
- It does not provide absolute female and male student counts for the destination region.
- It does not automatically describe gender parity across all outbound tertiary study.
- It cannot identify the causes of a country’s position without additional evidence.
- A value above or below 1 is not a direct score of education quality or opportunity.
- Unreported catalogue economies must remain missing rather than being filled with zero.
Source and calculation
The numeric source is the UNESCO Institute for Statistics Data API for MOGER.5T8.40520.GPIA, with all 191 reported observations referring to 2023. The adjusted GPI concept and the commonly used 0.97–1.03 parity band are documented in UIS material on the adjusted gender parity index. UIS defines tertiary education as ISCED levels 5–8 in its tertiary education glossary.
Means, medians, quartiles, parity-band counts and rankings are calculated directly from the official values. The five official zeroes are preserved, while catalogue units without a reported observation are not imputed. The world map joins source codes to low-resolution Natural Earth geometry and leaves unmatched small territories out of the map without changing the statistics.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a GPIA of 1 mean?
It means the female and male values of this destination-specific outbound tertiary mobility indicator are equal. UIS commonly uses 0.97–1.03 as a practical parity band.
Does a GPIA of 2 mean there are twice as many female students?
No. GPIA is an adjusted 0–2 index centered on 1. Absolute female and male student numbers require separate count data.
Were countries without data filled with zero?
No. Five zeroes are official UIS values. Catalogue units without a reported observation remain missing and were not imputed.
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