It is difficult to overstate the importance of education to human well-being. Education is central to meaningful work, higher incomes, good health, a productive economy, more equitable life opportunities, and a vibrant civil society.The World Bank has more than 30 indicators related to education, and the United Nations System Development Goal #4 strives to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.1
In 1820 less than 20% of the world’s population was literate, and those people were heavily concentrated in western Europe and its “offshoots” (United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand).2 Today the global literacy rate is about 87%, and many high-income countries have rates above 99%.
But educational outcomes are still very low in some countries that are concentrated in Africa, and to a lesser extent in central America, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent. Children in Haiti, Syria, Pakistan, and Chad can expect 10 or fewer years in school compared to 15 to 20 years in higher income countries.
Access to affordable, clean, and safe sources of energy is essential to achieving universal and equitable access to education. Energy access directly and indirectly improves educational outcomes. Electrification of the classroom enables longer studying or classroom hours at schools, deepens the use of information and communications technology, and strengthens teacher recruitment and retention.3 The indirect effects in education are tied to how energy improves other aspects of well-being that affect education: better nutrition, access to vaccines, higher household incomes, improved indoor air quality, and reduced time spent by women collecting firewood. Other articles describe how access to energy improves health, nutrition, access to clean water, and reduces time poverty for women.
Very low levels of energy per capita are associated with low expected years of schooling. Increases in energy use per capita are associated with more years of schooling. This relationship is revealed when you play the animation and watch the trajectories of countries such as India, China, Thailand, and Mexico. They generally move upwards (more schooling) and the right (more energy use) in the animation.
At very low levels of energy use per capita, small increases in energy use are associated with large increases in expected years of schooling. But note that at the other end of the spectrum, at high levels of energy use per capita, further increases in energy use have little association with changes in expected years of schooling. For example, Singapore (16 years) and Uruguay (17 years) have similar expected years of schooling for children, but in Singapore per capita energy use is nearly nine times that in Uruguay.
Increases in energy use is neither an ironclad requirement for higher levels of education nor a guarantee that schooling will improve with more energy. There is clear diminishing returns to educational outcomes from increases in energy use per capita. At very low levels of energy use per capita, small increases in energy use are associated with large increases in expected years of schooling. But above 30 to 40 GJ per capita, advances in schooling start to slow quickly. At high levels of energy use per capita, further increases in energy use have little association with changes in expected years of schooling. For example, Singapore (16 years) and Uruguay (17 years) have similar expected years of schooling for children, but in Singapore per capita energy use is nearly nine times that in Uruguay.
Clearly, the significant improvements in education that some desperately need can be achieved with relatively modest increases in access to energy, especially electricity. This observation, as well as strong diminishing returns to energy use per capita, is consistent with other important indicators of well-being such as life satisfaction, health, and the Human Development Index.
1 World Bank, World Development Indicators, https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators; United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Sustainable Development Goals, https://sdgs.un.org/goals
2 van Leeuwen, B. and J. van Leeuwen-Li (2014), “Education since 1820”, in van Zanden, J., et al. (eds.), How Was Life?: Global Well-being since 1820, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264214262-9-en.
3 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. “Electricity and Education: The Benefits, Barriers, and Recommendations for Achieving the Electrification of Primary and Secondary Schools,” 2014. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?page=view&type=400&nr=1608&menu=35.