Early childhood is a decisive period for health, learning, and later productivity, but access to the conditions that support development remains highly unequal. The figures below cover children from birth through the years before primary school, with explicit dates and geographies where they are available.
Contents
- Global development risks
- Preschool and early learning access
- Care and public investment
- Nutrition, breastfeeding, and immunization
- Country comparisons
- What early childhood programs can change
Global development risks
The World Bank Group describes the first 1,000 days as a critical period of brain development. Its early childhood development figures show the scale of the challenge in low- and middle-income countries:
- 148 million children under age five are at risk of not reaching their developmental potential because of poverty and stunting.
- Around 40% of children below primary-school-entry age—nearly 350 million children—need childcare but do not have access to it.
- There are 17.5 million child refugees and asylum seekers worldwide.
- There are 25.8 million internally displaced children worldwide.
UNICEF gives a related estimate for low- and middle-income countries: 43% of children under five, or 249 million children, are at elevated risk of poor development because of extreme poverty and stunting. The two estimates use different wording and totals, so they should not be treated as interchangeable. Both describe a large population exposed to overlapping developmental risks. [UNICEF Europe and Central Asia]
Food quality is another major concern. UNICEF reports that five in six children under age two are not fed enough nutritious food for their age. This measure concerns age-appropriate nutrition, not simply whether a child receives food. [UNICEF Europe and Central Asia]
The policy environment is also uneven. More than 85 million children under five live in 32 countries that do not offer families three critical policies supporting early brain development. Only 15 countries worldwide have all three essential national policies, while governments spend less than 2% of education budgets on early childhood programmes on average. [UNICEF Kyrgyzstan press release]
Preschool and early learning access
Global participation in pre-primary education has grown, but many children are still excluded. UNICEF Data reports that gross pre-primary enrollment increased from 33% in 2000 to 61% in 2020. As of 2019, at least 175 million children aged three to six were not enrolled in school, and only 73% of children one year before primary-school entry age attended school. [UNICEF Data pre-primary education page]
The World Bank Group reports that nearly half of all three- to six-year-olds worldwide are not enrolled in pre-primary education. In low-income countries, only one in five children has access to preschool. These figures describe different population groupings and measures, but they point to the same access gap: participation is much less common where household and public resources are more limited. [World Bank Group early childhood development page]
The OECD data show how participation changes by age. Across OECD countries, 38% of children aged zero to two are enrolled in early childhood education and care. The OECD average for weekly use in this age group is roughly 31 hours, and in many OECD countries children use services for about 25 to 35 hours in a usual week. [OECD Family Database PF3.2]
For children aged three to five, the OECD average is much higher: 89% are enrolled in early childhood education and care or primary school. At least 90% of five-year-olds are enrolled in early childhood education and care or primary school in every OECD country with available data. In 18 OECD countries, more than 90% of three-, four-, and five-year-olds are enrolled in early childhood education or primary education. [OECD Family Database PF3.2]
| Measure | Reported figure | Geography or population |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pre-primary enrollment, 2000 | 33% | Worldwide |
| Gross pre-primary enrollment, 2020 | 61% | Worldwide |
| Enrollment ages 0–2 | 38% | OECD average |
| Enrollment ages 3–5 in early education or primary school | 89% | OECD average |
| Children one year before primary-school entry attending school | 73% | Worldwide |
The OECD also reports wide country differences among children aged zero to two. Enrollment is below 1% in Türkiye, 69% in Korea, and 80% in the Netherlands. Among children aged three to five, enrollment is above 98% in France, Israel, and the United Kingdom. In Switzerland and Türkiye, just over half of three- to five-year-olds are enrolled in early childhood education and care or primary school. [OECD Family Database PF3.2]
Age matters within countries too. In Switzerland, only 2% of three-year-olds are enrolled in early childhood education and care or primary school, compared with more than 99% of five-year-olds. Across the OECD, enrollment at ages four and five is very common, while participation below age three is lower and more variable. In more than half of OECD countries with available data, enrollment of five-year-olds in early childhood education and care is nearly universal. [OECD Family Database PF3.2; OECD topic page]
Family background is associated with participation. Across OECD countries, enrollment is about 25 percentage points higher for children whose mothers attained tertiary education than for children whose mothers did not attain tertiary education. [OECD Family Database PF3.2]
Care and public investment
Childcare access is broader than preschool enrollment. The World Bank Group estimates that nearly 350 million children below primary-school-entry age need childcare but lack access. This includes children who may be too young for formal pre-primary education, making childcare coverage an important part of the early development picture. [World Bank Group early childhood development page]
Investment can expand participation at scale. From 2014 to 2024, World Bank investments enrolled 31 million children worldwide in quality preschool education. In Uzbekistan, preschool enrollment rose from 0.7 million to 2.44 million children after World Bank investment, an increase of 1.74 million children. [World Bank Group early childhood development page]
Country programs also reach families outside classrooms. Early childhood interventions benefited 14 million mothers and children in Senegal between 2020 and 2024. In Madagascar, the National Community Nutrition Program reaches 2.1 million mothers and children under age five. [World Bank Group early childhood development page]
The funding gap remains visible in national policy. UNICEF recommends that the Philippines invest at least 10% of its education budget in early childhood education. This is a recommendation, not a reported spending result. By contrast, UNICEF reports that governments worldwide spend less than 2% of education budgets on early childhood programmes on average. [UNICEF Philippines press release; UNICEF Kyrgyzstan press release]
Participation can differ sharply across lower-income and small-state settings. Only 15% of children aged three to four attend early childhood education in Kosovo, while 73% of three- to four-year-olds attend in Tuvalu. [UNICEF Kosovo page; UNICEF Tuvalu factsheet]
Nutrition, breastfeeding, and immunization
Early development is affected by nutrition and preventive health as well as learning opportunities. UNICEF country data from Montenegro report that 17% of newborns were exclusively breastfed within the first six months, and only one in seven babies were breastfed within the first hour after birth. In the same country, 44% of children up to age five did not receive the minimum acceptable diet. [UNICEF Montenegro page]
Montenegro’s growth and immunization indicators also show several distinct measures of child health:
- 27% of Roma children were stunted.
- One in five children under five was overweight or obese.
- One in three children at age seven was overweight or obese.
- Full immunization coverage among children aged 24 to 35 months was 61% in 2013.
- MMR immunization coverage was 55% in 2017.
These dates matter: the immunization figures are historical measurements from 2013 and 2017, not current coverage estimates. [UNICEF Montenegro page]
Breastfeeding initiation also changed over time in Malawi. The proportion of children first breastfed within one hour after birth fell from 76% in 2015–2016 to 60% in 2019–2020. [UNICEF Malawi page]
Food poverty can affect children at national scale. UNICEF reports that 20 countries account for 65% of all children living in severe child food poverty globally, and that 23% of children in South Africa are in that category. [UNICEF South Africa page]
Country comparisons
The following country figures illustrate why early childhood statistics need their geography and age bands stated clearly.
| Country or setting | Age or measure | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Kosovo | Ages 3–4 attending early childhood education | 15% |
| Tuvalu | Ages 3–4 attending early childhood education | 73% |
| Türkiye | Ages 0–2 enrolled in early childhood education and care | Below 1% |
| Korea | Ages 0–2 enrolled in early childhood education and care | 69% |
| Netherlands | Ages 0–2 enrolled in early childhood education and care | 80% |
| Maldives | Children on track for physical development | 98% |
| Maldives | Children on track for learning | 95% |
In the Maldives, 98% of children were on track for physical development and 95% were on track for learning, according to a UNICEF situation analysis. These are outcome-status measures and should not be read as enrollment rates. [UNICEF Maldives situation analysis]
Peru provides a longer-term nutrition comparison. Chronic malnutrition among children aged zero to five fell from 28.5% in 2007 to 14% after targeted support. The World Bank Group reports the two levels and the intervention context; the figures do not by themselves establish that the support was the sole cause of the change. [World Bank Group early childhood development page]
What early childhood programs can change
The World Bank Group reports that early childhood programs can improve learning outcomes and ultimately increase adult wages and productivity. These are described as potential long-term benefits, not as a quantified wage increase in the figures above. [World Bank Group early childhood development page]
There is also a reported economic return in Montenegro: UNICEF states that early childhood development services return almost 13% annually from a cost-benefit perspective. The measure is presented as an annual return for ECD services in that country, not as a universal rate for every program or geography. [UNICEF Montenegro page]
Taken together, the statistics show several linked but distinct gaps: developmental risk from poverty and stunting, limited access to childcare and preschool, uneven participation by age and family background, inadequate nutrition, and incomplete preventive care. They also show that large-scale investment can expand enrollment and reach millions of mothers and children, while country comparisons remain meaningful only when the age range, measurement year, geography, and indicator are kept explicit.