• Literacy rates adults (15+) rose worldwide from 74% in 1990 to 86% in 2018 and from 45% to 64% in least developed countries.
• The youth literacy rate increased from 83% in 1985 to 91% in 2018, while the number of illiterate youth declined from 170 million to 115 million.
• Literacy is lowest in least developed countries and higher among males than females. In the most recent years for which data are available, young women accounted for 59 per cent of the total illiterate youth population.
• The ratio of female to male enrolment worldwide has risen from 81% to 97% since 1970. | Related Megatrends: Work; Inequalities
• Yet, globally, 123 million youth (aged 15–24) lack basic literacy skills – 61% of them young women. 
  | Related Megatrends:Work; Inequalities
• Some 40 million youth (15% of those aged 15-29) in OECD countries are NEETs (not in education, employment or training). | Related Megatrends: Work; Inequalities
• More than 617 million children and adolescents are not achieving minimum proficiency levels (MPLs) in reading and mathematics. Of the EU-27 and UK population aged 20–24 in 2018, an average 83.5% had completed at least an upper secondary level of education (for women, the average is 86.1%); one of the targets of the Europe 2020 strategy for education was to increase to 40% the proportion of 30–34 year-olds with tertiary education by 2020. The target was reached for the first time in 2018 with 40.7% of the population aged 30-34 in the EU completing tertiary education| Related Megatrends: Technology; Work; Education
• Unless major interventions, it is likely that SDG4 (Sustainable Development Goal on education) will not be met by 2030.
• The Education 2030 Framework for Action provides guidance to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 which aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
• EU policy strategy is the Council Recommendation on Common values, Inclusive Education, and the European Dimension of Teaching.

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