Despite real progress over the past few decades, Latin America and the Caribbean still live with a paradox: a region bursting with talent, creativity, and energy, yet held back by some of the world’s deepest inequality traps. You can see this in the numbers as clearly as in the streets of any major city. The top 10% of earners in LAC make 12 times more than the bottom 10% — a gap far wider than in most OECD countries. That’s not just an income statistic. It’s a social dividing line that shapes who gets opportunity, who gets left behind, and who never even gets to enter the race.
Education is the most powerful engine humanity has ever invented for reversing these patterns. And the region has made serious strides: primary education is nearly universal, with 97% of children enrolled. But as students move up the system, the funnel narrows sharply. More than one in three young people have not completed secondary school by age 23. And only a quarter finish tertiary education — 15 points behind the OECD average. In a century where education is the new passport, too many young people in LAC are traveling without one.
International assessments like PISA and PIAAC hold up a mirror — and the reflection is sobering. In PISA 2022, three out of four students in the region did not reach basic proficiency in mathematics. Think about that: in an era defined by data, algorithms, and advanced problem-solving, most 15-year-olds are struggling to clear the minimum bar. Adults face similar challenges. In PIAAC, more than half of adults in participating LAC countries scored at the lowest literacy levels. And when it comes to digital skills — the new oxygen of modern economies — between a quarter and almost half of adults either cannot complete a basic digital task or have no computer experience at all.
These aren’t isolated problems. They point to a deeper generational cycle: educational gaps map onto socio-economic gaps, and vice versa. One striking comparison says it all: the average scores of the most advantaged students in LAC are still below those of the most disadvantaged students in OECD countries. That’s not just a gap. It’s a canyon.
Breaking this cycle requires more than goodwill. It requires bold policy choices, strategic investment, and a relentless focus on quality. Today, Latin American countries spend about 3.8% of GDP on education — well below the 5% benchmark in OECD economies. But this is not just about spending more; it’s about spending smarter, targeting the places where a dollar of investment yields a lifetime of opportunity.
This publication — developed jointly by the OECD’s Education and Skills Directorate and the Global Relations and Cooperation Directorate — formed the backbone of the discussions at the 2024 Latin America and the Caribbean Social Inclusion Ministerial in Bogotá. And the message from that meeting was clear: if governments commit to sustained, efficient, and equitable investment in high-quality learning opportunities, for children and adults, from all corners of society, then inequality doesn’t have to be destiny.
Because when a region invests in its people, it doesn’t just lift individuals. It rewires economies, strengthens democracies, and charts a new path of upward mobility. Latin America and the Caribbean have the talent. They have the ambition. With the right policies, they can build the future they deserve — one learner, one skill, one opportunity at a time.
Andreas Schaal,
OECD Director for Global Relations and Co-operation and OECD Sherpa to the G7, the G20 and APEC
Andreas Schleicher,
OECD Director for Education and Skills