Extent of the problem

Nearly half the people of the world today are under 25 years of age. Nine out of ten of these young people live in developing countries. More importantly, the majority of the developing world's poor is children and youth, defined either as being under the age of eighteen years (based on the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) or up to fourteen years (based on the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) framework). Although significant progress has been made in reducing poverty worldwide, the fact remains that most of the MDG outcomes are not likely to be met unless greater attention is paid to the next generation (World Bank 2005). Children are the hardest hit by poverty. More than half a billion children (40%) in developing countries are living on less than $1 a day (UNICEF 2005).

There are 115 million primary-school-aged children not enrolled in school, the majority (76%) are in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (UNESCO 2005). Another 150 million children start primary school but drop out before they have completed four years of education. Nearly half of the children in the least developed countries of the world do not have access to primary education. More than 45 percent of children in west and central Africa are out of school. For south Asia, this figure is 42 million.

For every 100 boys out of school, 117 girls miss out on primary education.