Demographic trends

Long-term demographic projections on the population in EU-27 show that by 2020, population aged 5-9 will fall by about 11%. For the age group of 10-14 the population may decrease by even 40%. That means that the number of students in compulsory education will decrease substantially by that point of time. Moreover, another interesting finding is that the number of teachers close to retirement age is over-represented. That means that new and young teachers will get in the labor force of schools. That may have a positive impact in modernizing the educational system.

However, that is not true for developing countries.From 1999 to 2007 the number of students enrolled in primary education in Sub-Saharan Africa has increased from 82 to 124 mn whereas in developing countries, in general, the number of students increased from 559 mn to 614 mn for the same period of time. The reason is two-fold, first of all the increase in the population and second the higher rated of school age population going to school. The same pattern is observed in enrollment rates in secondary education (the increase in that case is even more substantial).

Reference: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/978-92-9201-033-1/EN/978-92-9201-033-1-EN.PDF