Education as a dimension of human development: A Provincial-level Education Index for Ecuador

0.784; and, finally, very high, if the PEI was greater than or equal to 0.784. Since all the Ecua- dorian provinces had a PEI between 0.606 and 0.751 (see Fig 1), their level of educational development in 2014 was medium or high. Fig 2 illustrates the dynamics of the PEI distribution and its components, MYS and SYS, for 2006 and 2014, thereby furthering the description provided by Fig 1. All the distributions shifted to the right, with an increase in the mean values of the distributions between the years of the study. This evidences a positive evolution, both in PEI and in MYS and SYS between 2006 and 2014. The figure also shows a slight reduction in the disparity between provinces for the education index and its components between the years in the study, which will be analyzed later. The bimodal nature of the PEI distribution, which was only hinted at in 2006, was more evident in 2014, and reflects the concentration of a group of provinces with an educational Fig 1. Provincial-level Education Index by quartiles in 2014 and annual mean variation. 2006 and 2014. Notes: the Galapagos region was removed since it was not subject to analysis; the provinces of Santo Domingo and Santa Elena are included in Pichincha and Guayas, respectively; approximate results for the provinces of Amazonia in 2006 due to lack of representativeness in the survey. PEI = Provincial-level education index; AMV = annual mean variation; AMV = (PEI(2014)–PEI(2006))/(2014–2006). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270932.g001

Table 1. Ecuadorian provinces according to their level of educational development (2014). Educational development level Region Provinces Medium a Costa Esmeraldas; Los Rios; Manabı´ Sierra Bolı´var; Cañar; Carchi; Cotopaxi; Chimborazo Amazonia Morona Santiago; Zamora Chinchipe; Sucumbios; Orellana High b Costa El Oro; Guayas Sierra Azuay; Imbabura; Loja; Pichincha; Tungurahua Amazonia Napo; Pastaza Notes: a Medium: Provincial-level education index greater than or equal to 0.500 and less than 0.664. b High: Provincial-level Education Index greater than or equal to 0.664 and less than 0.784. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270932.t001 PLOS ONE Education as a dimension of Human development PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270932 July 8, 2022 11 / 27