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Global Universal Basic Skills: Current Deficits and Implications for World Development

Author

Listed:
  • Sarah Gust
  • Eric A. Hanushek
  • Ludger Woessmann

Abstract

How far is the world away from ensuring that every child obtains the basic skills needed to be competitive in a modern economy? And what would accomplishing this mean for world development? We provide new approaches for estimating the lack of basic skills that allow mapping achievement across countries of the world onto a common (PISA) scale. We then estimate the share of children not achieving basic skills for 159 countries that cover 98% of world population and 99% of world GDP. We find that at least two-thirds of the world’s youth do not reach basic skill levels, ranging from 24% in North America to 89% in South Asia and 94% in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our economic analysis suggests that the present value of lost world economic output due to missing the goal of global universal basic skills amounts to over $700 trillion over the remaining century, or 12% of discounted GDP.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Gust & Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, 2022. "Global Universal Basic Skills: Current Deficits and Implications for World Development," NBER Working Papers 30566, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30566
    Note: CH DEV ED EFG LS PE
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Pritchett, Lant, 2024. "Investing in Human Capital in Africa: A framework for research," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    2. Alexandra de Gendre & Jan Feld & Nicolás Salamanca & Ulf Zölitz, 2023. "Same-sex teacher effects," ECON - Working Papers 438, Department of Economics - University of Zurich, revised May 2024.
    3. Rossi,Federico & Michael Weber, 2024. "The Accumulation and Utilization of Human Capital over the Development Spectrum," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10891, The World Bank.
    4. Eric A. Hanushek & Lavinia Kinne & Frauke Witthöft & Ludger Woessmann & Frauke Baumeister, 2025. "Use It or Lose It: How Cognitive Skills Change with Age," EconPol Forum, CESifo, vol. 26(03), pages 52-57, July.
    5. Lorenzo Cappellari & Daniele Checchi & Marco Ovidi, 2022. "The effects of schooling on cognitive skills: evidence from education expansions," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def122, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    6. Lant Pritchett & Martina Viarengo, 2023. "The Learning Crisis of Developing Country Elites: Lessons from PISA-D," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 37(2), pages 177-204.
    7. Md. Azizur RAHMAN & Salma AKTER, 2024. "The transformative role of AI in reshaping employment trends across South Asia," Romanian Journal of Economics, Institute of National Economy, vol. 59(2(68)), pages 48-71, December.
    8. Nadir ALTINOK & Claude DIEBOLT, 2025. "From Access to Excellence: The Dual Growth of Türkiye’s Education System," Working Papers of BETA 2025-13, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    9. Sarah Gust & Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Wößmann, 2024. "Globale Bildungsdefizite: Wie fehlende Grundkompetenzen Entwicklungschancen hemmen," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 77(01), pages 31-34, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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