Early childhood development and inequality of opportunities in the Mediterranean

FEM43-18 | January 2019

Title

« Early childhood development and inequality of opportunities in the Mediterranean »

By

Touhami ABDELKHALEK, Institut National de Statistique et d’Économie Appliquée (INSEA), Rabat, Maroc; Valérie BERENGER, Université de Toulon, LEAD, France; Moundir LASSASSI, Centre de Recherche en Economie Appliquée pour le Développement (CREAD), Alger, Algérie

Contributeurs

Institut National de Statistique et d’Économie Appliquée (INSEA), Rabat, Maroc; Université de Toulon, LEAD, France, Centre de Recherche en Economie Appliquée pour le Développement (CREAD), Alger, Algérie

Note :

This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union within the context of the EU-FEMISE project “Support to economic research, studies and dialogue of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership”.. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the authors and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.

Summary :

Early childhood is the most important time for human development. However, countries tend to under-invest in this stage of development, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Children are facing unequal opportunities to develop because of the circumstances of their birth. This project analyzes inequality of opportunity in early childhood development in three Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) and three countries from non-EU Eastern Europe (Bosnia, Serbia and Ukraine). The findings demonstrate that there is substantial inequality of opportunity starting early in life. A variety of circumstances impact early inequality, with wealth, mother’s education, and geographic differences all contributing substantially.