Policy Brief: Meeting G20 commitments
A new policy brief from Dr Sophie Mackinder recommends actions the UK can take to ensure that it plays a leading role in helping the G20 live up to commitments on Early Child Development
Policy brief summary
The G20 Leaders’ Summit in 2018 advocated a ‘high priority’ in early years, launching the G20 Initiative for Early Childhood Development (ECD), as ‘early childhood is one of the most significant and influential phases of life’. The UK was a signatory of this initiative.
Our research demonstrates, however, that public spending in lower- and middle-income countries does not deliver front-loaded investment in the early years of childhood. In the UNICEF report Too Little Too Late, we mapped public spending on children by age in 84 countries. An update of our analysis ahead of the Rio G20 summit showed that in the African Union, on average just 6.5% of public spending on children was spent on the under-6s, compared to 30% in EU countries. This equates to just US$865 being spent per child until age 6 in Africa; US$72,000 per child is spent in the EU.
Spending less on the youngest directly contradicts the key principles of the G20 initiative. The UK had been a leader on global child poverty reduction under previous Labour governments, but has fallen behind on its responsibilities since 2010. The upcoming G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brazil is a key opportunity