Percentage of children under 5 years experiencing positive and stimulating home learning environments

Definition

SDG Indicator 4.2.3: Percentage of children aged 36-59 months who live in households where their mother, father or other adult household members engage with them in the following types of activities: reading or looking at picture books; telling stories; singing songs; taking children outside the home; playing; and naming, counting and/or drawing.

Data source

Household surveys with measures of positive and stimulating home learning environments for young children, which have been used in multiple countries and are available from surveys and assessments, including the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), Programa Regional de Indicadores de Desarrollo Infantil (PRIDI) in Latin America, Young Lives and others.

Source definition

UNESCO Institute for Statistics
http://tcg.uis.unesco.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/10/Metadata-4....

Calculation method

The indicator is calculated as the percentage of children aged 36-59 months participating in activities in the areas being measured.

Data required

The number of children aged 36-59 months participating in activities in the areas measured and the total number of children in the same age group.

Interpretation

A high value indicates that a large number of young children live in households which are supportive and provide stimulating learning environments, helping to promote children's academic, cognitive and social skills.

Purpose

The indicator aims to evaluate learning environment to ensure that it promotes and does not harm children's development.

Quality standards

UNICEF maintains the global database on ECD, which is used for reporting on the SDGs and other official reporting.

Types of disaggregation

Disaggregation by age, sex, location, income, and others as available and agreed by countries.