Over the past 50 years, remarkable progress has been made ensuring that children receive basic education. More than 60 percent of adults in low-income countries can read and write, whereas in 1962, just one-third were literate. Today, nearly nine in 10 children around the world complete primary school.
However, in education-as in other developmental challenges-progress is uneven. Across sub-Saharan Africa, nearly one-quarter of primary aged children are not in school. In Equatorial Guinea, 46 percent of children are not being educated. In South Asia, progress has generally been impressive, but 34 percent of Pakistan’s primary aged children are not in school. The worst educational outcomes occur in the nations that rank among the most poorly governed.
Copenhagen Consensus 2012 is a far-reaching project that asks expert economists to explore ways to improve the world’s biggest challenges. In this series we have taken a look at economists’ research papers that highlight ways to achieve the biggest gains most effectively.