Despite decades of progress, hundreds of millions of children still get no education at all. 

Understanding why is the first step to fixing it, and the reasons cluster into a handful of powerful forces.

TL;DR

• As of 2024, about 272 million children and youth are out of school, revised up from earlier estimates near 250 million.
• The out-of-school rate reaches 33 percent in low-income countries, compared with just 3 percent in high-income countries.
• Around half of all out-of-school children live in conflict-affected areas.

The out-of-school figures here come from UNESCO and UNICEF.

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Who is left out, and where

Around three-quarters of out-of-school children are in sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia, and the burden falls overwhelmingly on the poorest countries. 

Progress has stalled: since 2015, the number of out-of-school children has barely fallen.

The forces that keep children out

The drivers are consistent across contexts. Children are pushed out of education by climate disasters, poverty, conflict, disability, and gender inequality. 

Poverty pulls children into work or unpaid care. 

Conflict is one of the biggest single drivers, with an estimated 125 million out-of-school children living in conflict zones, from Sudan to Afghanistan. 

Each force compounds the others, which is why the same regions appear at the bottom year after year. 

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ELI5

About 272 million children around the world do not go to school. 

The main reasons are poverty, war, disability, and being a girl in places that do not educate girls. 

Almost all of these children live in the poorest countries.

Sources

UNESCO | UNESCO (2) | Concern Worldwide