There are sharp differences in opportunities of children across the developing world, as shown by examples presented in Figure 9. Primary school attendance of children presents an encouraging picture, with a majority of the 20 Sub-Saharan African countries and Latin American countries having achieved a high level of access (HOI near or above 80). Access to electricity for children provides a stark contrast. Sub-Saharan African countries are characterized by extremely low access to electricity and the gaps in HOI between the two regions are vast, to the extent that every country in this region with the sole exception of South Africa has an HOI lower than that of any Latin American country. Similar gaps are seen for access to other types of basic infrastructure as well, such as safe water and adequate sanitation.

Even in most middle-income countries, where access to the most basic of goods and services is near universal, inequality of opportunity is widely prevalent in access to early childhood inputs, quality schooling, health services and infrastructure. In Vietnam, while primary schooling is nearly universal, nearly 40 percent of children in Grade 5 exhibit inadequate mathematics or language skill to progress to lower secondary level. These children are disproportionately likely to belong to poorer households (bottom two quintiles of wealth), belong to an ethnic minority, live in rural areas, and have parents with low education (primary school or less).<sup>32</sup> In South Africa, completion of primary school on time and exposure to coverage of early-childhood programs (among 0-4 year olds) are far below universal and unequal, with most of the differences being associated with socioeconomic background, location and ethnicity of the children (World Bank, 2012).

# _Opportunity gaps among children and the importance of economic status_

Circumstances like where an individual was born, his/her parents’ education and income, and the individual’s race and gender, can contribute in varying degrees to inequality of opportunity. For example, in sub-Saharan Africa, household wealth, parental education level and location (urban/rural) are the most important contributors to inequality in the opportunities related to starting primary school on time, completing primary school (between age 12-15 years), being fully immunized (at age 1 year) or having access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and electricity in the household. In countries such as Cameroon, Nigeria and Rwanda, for a girl born in a rural household in the lowest quintile of wealth where the household head has education below primary level, the likelihood of completing primary school on time is roughly _an eighth_ of that for a boy born in an urban household in the highest wealth quintile and headed by a highly educated head. Even among the better performing countries in the region, such as Kenya and Tanzania, the child who belongs to the disadvantaged group has one-third the likelihood of finishing primary school in time than if she had been born with the attributes of the advantaged group.

In almost all cases where opportunity gaps are significant, differences in household income or wealth have a large role. Consider, for example, the opportunity to grow up through childhood without being scarred by chronic malnutrition. As Figure 10 shows, children from the wealthier segments of society generally have significantly better chances of not experiencing stunted growth. One in _ten_ children from the wealthiest 20 percent in Haiti, is stunted, compared to one in _four_ children from the bottom 40 percent segment. Differences are stark in many countries. To the extent that stunting during childhood manifests itself in lower learning outcomes, poorer health and lower productivity in adulthood, these gaps represent significant disadvantages to children born to poorer households and are likely to restrict their economic mobility perennially trapping them in poverty.

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