Progress towards quality education was already slower than required before the COVID‑19 pandemic further slowed gains. Global completion rates have risen only modestly since 2015 and learning proficiency remains low.
As of 2023, 272 million children and youth were out of school, up 3 per cent since 2015 and disproportionately concentrated in low‑income countries.
In addition to free primary and secondary schooling for all boys and girls by 2030, the aim is to provide equal access to affordable vocational training, eliminate gender and wealth disparities, and achieve universal access to quality higher education.
Education is the key that will allow many other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved. When people are able to get quality education they can break from the cycle of poverty.
Education helps to reduce inequalities and to reach gender equality. It also empowers people everywhere to live more healthy and sustainable lives. Education is also crucial to fostering tolerance between people and contributes to more peaceful societies.
To deliver on Goal 4, education financing must become a national investment priority. Furthermore, measures such as making education free and compulsory, increasing the number of teachers, improving basic school infrastructure and embracing digital transformation are essential.
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Inequality threatens long-term social and economic development, harms poverty reduction and destroys people’s sense of fulfillment and self-worth.
The incomes of the poorest 40 per cent of the population had been growing faster than the national average in most countries. But emerging yet inconclusive evidence suggests that COVID-19 may have put a dent in this positive trend of falling within-country inequality.
The global refugee population has surged to 37.8 million – primarily from Afghanistan, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Syrian Arab Republic and Ukraine – intensifying humanitarian pressures.
Reports of discrimination are on the rise worldwide, affecting urban residents, women, persons with disabilities, the poorest, and those with lower education levels most severely. Discrimination remains a pervasive, systemic issue tied to social identity and status. Globally, 1 in 5 people report experiencing discrimination on grounds prohibited by international law within the past year, with rates highest in Least Developed Countries, averaging 24.3%.
Youth (15–29 years) more often report discrimination based on migration status, ethnicity and sexual orientation, while older adults (60+ years) encounter age, disability and health-related discrimination.
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Goal 16 is about promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. People everywhere should be free of fear from all forms of violence and feel safe as they go about their lives whatever their ethnicity, faith or sexual orientation.
However, ongoing and new violent conflicts around the world are derailing the global path to peace and achievement of Goal 16. Alarmingly, the year 2022 witnessed a more than 50 per cent increase in conflict-related civilian deaths – the first since the adoption of Agenda 2030 – largely due to the war in Ukraine. In 2024, loss of lives amid armed conflicts surged 40 per cent from 2023, marking the third consecutive annual rise. About four times more children and women were killed in 2023–2024 than in the previous biennium; of these, 8 in 10 child deaths and 7 in 10 female deaths occurred in Gaza.
High levels of armed violence and insecurity have a destructive impact on a country’s development, while sexual violence, crime, exploitation and torture are prevalent where there is conflict or no rule of law, and countries must take measures to protect those who are most at risk.
Governments, civil society and communities need to work together to find lasting solutions to conflict and insecurity. Strengthening the rule of law and promoting human rights is key to this process, as is reducing the flow of illicit arms, combating corruption, and ensuring inclusive participation at all times.
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