New data released by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) highlight the gender disparities found at all levels of education. Only about one out of three countries have achieved gender parity in primary and secondary education, while disparities persist at the tertiary level nearly everywhere in the world.    For those countries with recently available data, 112 have achieved gender parity in primary education enrollment. However, girls continue to lag behind boys in terms of enrolment in 66 countries, while the opposite is true (boys have lower enrolments) in eight countries. Low participation rates among girls are most apparent in countries with very limited resources, according to UIS data. For example, in Somalia, the gross enrolment ratio for girls is just 23%, compared with 42% for boys. A similar situation is found in Afghanistan (84% for girls; 127% for boys), Chad (68% versus 97%), Central African Republic (74% versus 104%) and Mali (86% versus 103%). These statistics are part of the main UIS education data release, which will be featured in international publications, such as the Global Education Digest and the Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report.  Gender and education is the subject of the upcoming edition of the Global Education Digest, which will be launched in September 2010. The publication will provide an in-depth analysis of UIS data to help evaluate progress towards the gender targets associated with EFA and the Millennium Development Goals, which concern all levels of education.  Source: UNESCO