Equal access to education is a basic human right. But in many countries gaps in education between various groups are staggering. An education Gini index -- a new indicator for the distribution of human capital and welfare -- facilitates comparison of education inequality across countries and over time.

Equal access to education is a basic human right. But in many countries gaps in education between various groups are staggering. An education Gini index - a new indicator for the distribution of human capital and welfare - facilitates comparison of education inequality across countries and over time. Thomas, Wang, and Fan use a Gini index to measure inequality in educational attainment. They present two methods (direct and indirect) for calculating an education Gini index and generate a quinquennial data set on education Gini indexes for the over-15 population in 85 countries (1960-90). Preliminary empirical analysis suggests that: ʼn Inequality in education in most of the countries declined over the three decades, with a few exceptions. ʼn Inequality in education as measured by the education Gini index is negatively associated with average years of schooling, implying that countries with higher educational attainment are more likely to achieve equality in education than those with lower attainment. ʼn A clear pattern of an education Kuznets curve exists if the standard deviation of education is used. ʼn Gender gaps are clearly related to education inequality, and over time, the association between gender gaps and inequality becomes stronger. ʼn Increases in per capita GDP (adjusted for purchasing power parity) seem to be negatively associated with education inequality and positively related to the labor force's average years of schooling, after controlling for initial income levels. This paper - a joint product of the Office of the Vice President and the Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction Division, World Bank Institute - is an extension of the paper "Measuring Educational Inequality: Education Gini Index from 1960 to 1990" (Vinod Thomas, Yan Wang, and Xibo Fan, World Bank, Washington, DC). This study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project "The Quality of Growth" (RPO 682-02).

This book constructs a measure of education inequality using time-series cross-national data and utilizes real-world examples based on author interviews. It provides insights into how classic trade theory might be applied more broadly to generate expectations not only about income distribution, but also about investment in human capital. The project explores the ways in which global trends toward urbanization and democratization might be expected to impact education inequality. The author addresses contemporary issues in politics, such as growing income inequality, the backlash against globalization and free trade, and concerns that democratic institutions are elite-dominated and unresponsive to the needs of common citizens.

Inequality in Education: Comparative and International Perspectives is a compilation of conceptual chapters and national case studies that includes a series of methods for measuring education inequalities. The book provides up-to-date scholarly research on global trends in the distribution of formal schooling in national populations. It also offers a strategic comparative and international education policy statement on recent shifts in education inequality, and new approaches to explore, develop and improve comparative education and policy research globally. Contributing authors examine how education as a process interacts with government finance policy to form patterns of access to education services. In addition to case perspectives from 18 countries across six geographic regions, the volume includes six conceptual chapters on topics that influence education inequality, such as gender, disability, language and economics, and a summary chapter that presents new evidence on the pernicious consequences of inequality in the distribution of education. The book offers (1) a better and more holistic understanding of ways to measure education inequalities; and (2) strategies for facing the challenge of inequality in education in the processes of policy formation, planning and implementation at the local, regional, national and global levels.

"Understanding the complexity of racial categories is essential for achieving equity and reducing inequality in the United States. The authors show how that by disaggregating data on race, researchers and policymakers can more fully understand how race is factored in educational settings"--

The World Bank Group has two overarching goals: End extreme poverty by 2030 and promote shared prosperity by boosting the incomes of the bottom 40 percent of the population in each economy. As this year’s Poverty and Shared Prosperity report documents, the world continues to make progress toward these goals. In 2015, approximately one-tenth of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty, and the incomes of the bottom 40 percent rose in 77 percent of economies studied. But success cannot be taken for granted. Poverty remains high in Sub- Saharan Africa, as well as in fragile and conflict-affected states. At the same time, most of the world’s poor now live in middle-income countries, which tend to have higher national poverty lines. This year’s report tracks poverty comparisons at two higher poverty thresholds—$3.20 and $5.50 per day—which are typical of standards in lower- and upper-middle-income countries. In addition, the report introduces a societal poverty line based on each economy’s median income or consumption. Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018: Piecing Together the Poverty Puzzle also recognizes that poverty is not only about income and consumption—and it introduces a multidimensional poverty measure that adds other factors, such as access to education, electricity, drinking water, and sanitation. It also explores how inequality within households could affect the global profile of the poor. All these additional pieces enrich our understanding of the poverty puzzle, bringing us closer to solving it. For more information, please visit worldbank.org/PSP

This open-access book focuses on trends in educational inequality using twenty years of grade 8 student data collected from 13 education systems by the IEAs Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) between 1995 and 2015. While the overall positive association between family socioeconomic status (SES) and student achievement is well documented in the literature, the magnitude of this relationship is contingent on social contexts and is expected to vary by education system. Research on how such associations differ across societies and how the strength of these relationships has changed over time is limited. This study, therefore, addresses an important research and policy question by examining changes in the inequality of educational outcomes due to SES over this 20-year period, and also examines the extent to which the performance of students from disadvantaged backgrounds has improved over time in each education system. Education systems generally aim to narrow the achievement gap between low- and high-SES students and to improve the performance of disadvantaged students. However, the lack of quantifiable and comprehensible measures makes it difficult to assess and monitor the effect of such efforts. In this study, a novel measure of SES that is consistent across all TIMSS cycles allows students to be categorized into different socioeconomic groups. This measure of SES may also contribute to future research using TIMSS trend data. Readers will gain new insight into how educational inequality has changed in the education systems studied and how such change may relate to the more complex picture of macroeconomic changes in those societies.