Educational Equality in Latin America
By: Nitya Jadeja
Jan 25, 2022
January 24 is the UN International Day of Education. This week’s graph shows the extent to which high quality basic education is guaranteed to all citizens in Latin America from 2010-2020. Empirical evidence collated by V-Dem Institute’s Case for Democracy program demonstrates that democracy positively affects educational outcomes, such as school enrolment and literacy. Conversely, evidence shows that autocratization increases the risk of repealing educational spending and directing funding favors to high-income students.
In Latin America, this is also true for its two major autocratizers, Brazil and Venezuela. The latest V-Dem Democracy report highlight Brazil as one of the top 10-autocratizers around the world in 2010-2020. Venezuela has also experienced a substantial decline in the level of democracy in this decade. Red dots in the graph show that the educational equality in Brazil and Venezuela has decreased substantially in the last decade. As the UN looks towards promoting educational equality, the role of democracies to achieve this goal is essential.
To learn more about the Case for Democracy program, visit v-dem.net.
