Advocates of 'low-cost' private schooling have consistently maintained that this is an 'egalitarian alternative' to public provision in Africa and Asia. This article presents evidence from recently conducted school and household surveys in 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa which suggests that this is not the case. In particular, relatively very few children from the poorest households in rural areas enrol in private schools. Given low population densities and continuing high poverty rates, the possibility of any marked scaling up of for-profit private schooling across rural Africa remains remote. While private school enrolment rates among children from the poorest households in urban areas are appreciably higher, they are still under 20% in almost all of these countries.