Researchers find global public spending on children is “too little, and too late”

Examining the evidence from 84 countries, representing 58 percent of the world’s children, this joint report in partnership with UNICEF Innocenti and the University of York Policy Engine is the first attempt to look at how public policies for children are organized in high-, middle- and low-income countries across the globe. It maps how countries direct public spending to children from birth through age 25 and identifies expenditure trends across countries by children’s age and income, with a particular focus on early years spending, inequalities within and between countries, and more.

The report finds that, globally, countries underinvest in both young and poor children. Public spending on children is often too little and delivered too late in the life course. Striking differences in how much countries spend on children, particularly young children, further exacerbate existing social and economic inequalities. The report’s age-spending profiles and recommendations offer public policy stakeholders evidence in support of more comprehensive child policy portfolios across countries moving forward.

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Report by UNICEF Innocenti–Global Office of Research and Foresight, Columbia University–Center on Poverty and Social Policy, and University of York–the York Policy Engine.

Report written by Dominic Richardson (UNICEF Innocenti), David Harris (UNICEF Innocenti and Columbia University Center on Poverty and Social Policy), John Hudson (University of York) and Sophie Mackinder (University of York).

Suggested Citation: 

Richardson, Dominic, David Harris, Sophie Mackinder, and John Hudson. 2023. Too little, too late: An assessment of public spending on children by age in 84 countries, Innocenti Research Report, UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti, Florence.