Learning Poverty
Learning poverty measures the share of 10-year-olds who cannot read and understand a simple written text. After the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 70% of children in low- and middle-income countries were learning poor, up from 57% before the crisis. Rates are highest in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and lowest in wealthy countries.
Key Learning Poverty Insights
Most children cannot read by age 10
Even before COVID-19, 57% of 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries could not read and understand a simple story. The pandemic pushed this to an estimated 70%.
A deep regional divide
Pre-pandemic learning poverty ranged from 86% in Sub-Saharan Africa and 63% in the Middle East and North Africa down to 21% in East Asia and 13% in Europe and Central Asia.
COVID-19 made a crisis worse
School closures averaged about 141 days globally and 273 days in South Asia. Learning poverty rose roughly a third in low- and middle-income countries during the pandemic.
A lifetime cost
The World Bank estimates this generation of students could lose $21 trillion in lifetime earnings in present value, equal to about 17% of today's global GDP.
Learning Poverty by Region (2019)
Pre-pandemic share of children unable to read a simple text by age 10, across low- and middle-income regions.
Key Finding: Sub-Saharan Africa led at 86%, while East Asia & Pacific (21%) and Europe & Central Asia (13%) were far lower.
Before vs After COVID-19
Learning poverty in all low- and middle-income countries, before the pandemic versus the 2022 post-COVID estimate.
Key Finding: Learning poverty jumped from 57% in 2019 to an estimated 70% by 2022.
Pandemic Impact by Region
Pre-pandemic and post-COVID learning poverty for the regions with published 2022 estimates.
Key Finding: Latin America & the Caribbean saw the steepest jump, from 52% to 80%.
What Makes Up Learning Poverty
Learning poverty combines children in school but below minimum reading proficiency with out-of-school children, who are all counted as learning poor.
Key Finding: Most of the 57% pre-pandemic rate came from children in school yet not learning to read.
Rising Learning Poverty Over Time
Estimated learning poverty in low- and middle-income countries across recent World Bank assessments.
Key Finding: After holding near 53-57% for years, the rate spiked to 70% following pandemic school closures.
Understanding Learning Poverty Data
What learning poverty measures
Learning poverty is the share of 10-year-olds (children at the end of primary school) who are unable to read and understand a simple written text. It combines two components: learning deprivation — children who are in school but read below the minimum proficiency level defined by UNESCO's Global Alliance to Monitor Learning — and schooling deprivation — out-of-school children, who are all assumed to be unable to read proficiently. The formula is LP = [LD × (1 − SD)] + SD.
Where the data comes from
The figures are drawn from the World Bank and UNESCO Institute for Statistics Learning Poverty Global Database and the joint report The State of Global Learning Poverty: 2022 Update, produced with UNICEF, FCDO, USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Reading proficiency comes from international and regional learning assessments, and out-of-school rates from administrative and household data. Regional values are population-weighted averages of available country data for low- and middle-income countries.
Why COVID-19 raised the rate
The pandemic produced the largest disruption to schooling in recorded history. Education systems were fully closed for in-person learning for about 141 days on average worldwide, and far longer in some regions — 273 days in South Asia and 225 days in Latin America and the Caribbean. Remote learning reached only a fraction of students, especially the poorest, so foundational reading skills eroded. The 2022 estimate of 70% reflects these simulated learning losses on top of the pre-pandemic 57%.
Caveats and limitations
The 2022 rate is a simulation based on the length of school closures and the effectiveness of mitigation, not a direct measurement, so actual figures may differ as new assessment data arrives. Learning poverty is reported only for low- and middle-income countries; comparable rates in high-income countries are far lower, around 9%. Country coverage and assessment dates vary, and the measure captures reading only — not numeracy or other skills.