A recent Pew study on the state of education among different religious groups around the world showed that Jews were more educated than other groups, followed by Christians.
Jewish adults aged 25 and older have an average of 13.4 years of education, Christians approximately 9.3 years, atheists 8.8 years, Buddhists 7.9 years, while Muslims and Hindus each have an average of about 5.6 years of education.
The Jewish population is mostly concentrated in the US and Israel, which are developed nations, but Christians are scattered all around the world, in both developed and underdeveloped countries, which might explain the difference in the average level of education among these groups.
Pew based its findings on census and survey data from 151 countries. The study also found significant differences in education levels among different religious groups and genders within a country.
The Pew report said that in sub-Saharan Africa, Christians were more highly educated than Muslims.
Disparities in educational level along gender lines were higher in some groups as compared to others.
Muslim men were more highly educated with 6.4 years of education, as compared to Muslim women who had an average of 4.9 years of education.
Hindu women (4.2 years) were also less educated than Hindu men (6.9 years).
However, the gender gap in the educational level among the various religious groups seems to be decreasing over the years, according to the study.
The average level of education in different global regions is far from homogenous. Most of the people around the world have just a little over primary levels of education. Global average years of schooling among women is seven years, and for men it is eight years.
About 19 percent of the world population have no formal education.
Only 14 percent of adults over the age of 25 in the world have had higher education or have a university degree.
