UNDP has produced this eye-catching visual representation of what would otherwise be a very long statistics heavy report showing the state of education in Uzbekistan, which a focus on the differences in participation and outcome based on gender. Reproduced below (c) UNDP Uzbekistan, source http://visual.ly/women-and-men-uzbekistan-difference-education.

Infographics are an excellent way of familiarising people with what can sometimes feel like very ‘heavy’ numbers. By looking at this infographic, you would grasp a number of facts quite quickly. The most striking to me – which is not as gender specific as some of the data – is the drop in participation in higher education and the fact that only 9% of school leavers are going on to university now. Compare that to neighbouring Tajikistan (20% participation rate) and don’t even think about other neighbours Kazakhstan (41%) or Kyrgyzstan (51%) (source: World Bank, 2011).

The implications for Uzbekistan’s future human potential are deeply worrying and not even a beautiful infographic like this one can hide some serious concerns.