Goal 4: Quality Education
This goal ensures quality education and access to lifelong learning opportunities to people of all ages. Although there have been some improvements in school attendance since 2015, progress is still too slow and in many countries the quality of education is actually declining. Millions of adults, mostly women, are still unable to read or write, and many schools lack basic necessities such as electricity, clean water, and internet access. The main indicators are the mean years of schooling, the percentage of Educational Attendance and Education Index which combines present level of education and the expected future years of schooling. These diverse metrics create a wide picture of the differences in educational access across regions.
Education Index
Read more about this goal on the official SDG website
Read articles
Ebbers, A., Bergner, E. & Wagner, N. (2025). The effect of parental migration on children left behind: meta-analytical evidence on education and child labour. GDL Working paper 25-102.
Schrijner, S. & Smits, J. (2018). Grandmothers and Children’s Schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa. Human Nature, 29(1), 65-89.
Schrijner, S. & Smits, J. (2017). Grandfathers and children's schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa. GDL Working paper 17-101.
Huisman, J. & Smits, J. (2015). Keeping children in school: Household and district-level determinants of school dropout in 322 districts of 30 developing countries. Sage Open, October-December, 1-15.