State of Global Learning Poverty 2022

On 23rd June, 2022, a report, titled ‘The State of Global Learning Poverty 2022’ was published by the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF, UK government Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), USAID and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Major Findings: Even before COVID-19, the world was facing a learning crisis, with nearly 6 out of every 10 ten year-olds in low- and middle-income countries suffering from learning poverty.

  • Prolonged school closures, poor mitigation effectiveness, and household-income shocks had the biggest impact on learning poverty in the global south.
  • Latin America and the Caribbean, followed by the South Asia had the biggest impact on learning poverty.
  • Learning poverty has increased by a third in low- and middle-income countries.
  • Children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, other disadvantaged groups and those with the most fragile grasp of foundational literacy are suffering larger learning losses.
  • This generation of students now risks losing $21 trillion in potential lifetime earnings in present value, up from the $17 trillion estimated in 2021.

About Learning Poverty

  • The learning poverty rate measures the proportion of children who are unable to read a simple text with comprehension by age 10.
  • It was launched in 2019 by the World Bank and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
  • It captures both schooling and learning, and it is aligned with the SDG 4 indicators measuring whether all primary-age children are in school (SDG 4.1.4) and acquiring meaningful skills by the end of primary (SDG 4.1.1b).
  • Learning Poverty = Schooling deprivation + [(1- Schooling deprivation) x Learning deprivation].

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