Do Existing Early Childhood Interventions Have the Potential to Close Socioeconomic Gaps in Low- and Middle-Income Countries?

The effectiveness of early childhood interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is well-documented, but it remains unclear whether and how much such programs could reduce current socioeconomic inequities in child outcomes. This paper reviews existing literature on socioeconomic status (SES)–based outcome gaps for young children in global contexts, estimates the magnitude of SES gaps with recently released Round 6 Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS6) data, and compares these gaps to effect sizes found in the literature on early childhood intervention. We also include descriptive analyses using MICS6 data to shed light on whether participation in early childhood care and education services may mitigate existing SES gaps. Using data from 12 countries, we find that SES gaps in preschool-age children’s skills are extensive, but with significant variation across different countries. Within-country differences in child development scores across the highest and lowest wealth quintiles range from 0.17 SD (in Uzbekistan) to 0.92 SD (in Nigeria). Generally, SES gaps exceed average reported intervention effect sizes, which range from 0.12 to 0.44 SDs across different meta-analyses. Collectively, these findings suggest that new or combined approaches to early childhood care and education are needed to more meaningfully realize the equalizing potential of early childhood intervention and to support the world’s most economically disadvantaged children.