Education Aid to Fall to $9.2B by 2027 as Learning Poverty Persists
Seattle – September 15, 2026 -- Nine in 10 children in low-income countries reach age 10 unable to read a simple text, even as global education aid is projected to fall from roughly $12-13 billion annually to $9.2 billion by 2027, according to a new sector report from nonprofit The Life You Can Save.
Financing gap reaches $97 billion annually across low- and lower-middle-income countries
The report puts the annual financing gap needed to meet global education goals at $97 billion, including $70 billion in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. Private philanthropy currently contributes approximately $1 billion annually to education globally -- less than 1% of that gap. In low-income countries, aid accounts for more than 12% of total education spending, while governments spend an average of just $55 per school-aged child annually; the report warns that in some countries, recent aid cuts could cut education budgets by as much as half.