UNESCO Report: 251 Million Children Out of School
According to the Education Finance Monitoring Report published by UNESCO and the World Bank, the number of children and youth out of school worldwide has decreased by only 1%. The report attributes this stagnation primarily to chronic underinvestment in education, especially in low- and lower-middle-income countries. In collaboration with Brazil, which holds the G20 presidency this year, UNESCO is encouraging member states to leverage innovative financing solutions like debt-for-education swaps.
The report highlights that since the adoption of the UN’s education goal in 2015, an additional 110 million children have started school, with more children in school than ever before and secondary graduation rates on the rise. However, despite these achievements, the out-of-school population has decreased by only 1%. Due to this global stagnation, 251 million children and youth worldwide are still not attending school. In low-income countries, 33% of school-aged children are out of school, while in high-income countries, this figure drops to only 3%. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than half of the world's out-of-school children and youth.
The report also indicates that the lack of funding remains a major barrier to global access to quality education. Forty percent of countries allocate less than 15% of their public spending and less than 4% of their GDP to education. In 2022, spending per student in low- and middle-income countries was only $55, compared to $8,543 in high-income countries.