5th Global Report on Adult Learning and Education - Executive summary - Citizenship education: Empowering adults for change

Oct 15, 2026

Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE) executive summary focuses on citizenship education for adults, presenting encouraging participation trends alongside clear gaps. It highlights how adults—especially women—are increasingly joining education since 2018, yet migrants, Indigenous peoples, older citizens and people with disabilities remain largely left behind. The summary also stresses underinvestment, limited integration of contemporary challenges such as climate issues, and the need to fully embed adult learning within lifelong learning cultures.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Executive summary

Foreword

Key messages from Belém to Marrakech

O DGULOLTBLAL REEARNPI ONRGT AND EDUCATION Citizenship education: Empowering adults for change Executive summary 5th GLOBAL REPORT ON ADULT LEARNING AND EDUCATION Citizenship education: Empowering adults for change Executive summary Published 2022 by UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning Feldbrunnenstraße 58 20148 Hamburg Germany © UNESCO The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) undertakes research, capacity-building, networking and publication on lifelong learning with a focus on adult and continuing education, literacy and non-formal education. Its publications are a valuable resource for education researchers, planners, policy-makers and practitioners. While the programmes of UIL are established along the lines laid down by the General Conference of UNESCO, the publications of the Institute are issued under its sole responsibility. UNESCO is not responsible for their contents. The points of view, selection of facts and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily coincide with official positions of UNESCO or UIL. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO or UIL concerning the legal status of any country or territory, or its authorities, or concerning the delimitations of the frontiers of any country or territory. This publication is available in Open Access under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO) licence ( [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/)) . By using the content of this publication, the users accept to be bound by the terms of use of the UNESCO Open Access Repository ( [http://en. unesco.org/open](http://en. unesco.org/open)access/terms-use-ccbysa-en) . Photos Front cover: Top: © AYA images/Shutterstock Bottom: © Arrowsmith2/Shutterstock Back cover: Top: © Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock Bottom: © Parsobchai Ngammoa/Shutterstock Design Christiane Marwecki UIL/2022/ME/H/8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 FOREWORD ‘Everyone has the right to education.’ As Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights emphasizes, education is a right that is both fundamental and universal. Here, universal means in all countries, for all girls and all boys and – as we often forget – at all ages. Lifelong learning is not only a right; it is also a crucial asset in facing the social and economic uncertainty and environmental and digital disruption to which we must adapt on an ongoing basis. It is a culture that we must develop if we are to strengthen social cohesion, equal opportunities, gender equality and the economic vitality of our societies. Our Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE), the first edition of which was published in 2009, contributes to this goal by providing international reference data to support and inform public policies. This report underlines that the Belém Framework for Action on adult learning and education, the coordination of which Member States entrusted to UNESCO, has generated real momentum over the past decade. Indeed, GRALE 5 reveals some very encouraging trends. For example, it highlights the fact that the number of adults – especially women – participating in education has grown in most Member States since 2018. However, this report also identifies areas for improvement. Vulnerable populations and minorities, such as migrants, Indigenous peoples, older citizens and people with disabilities, are still, all too often, left behind, when they should be priority groups. And while the importance of lifelong learning is increasingly being recognized, it suffers from harmful underinvestment. Nearly half of all countries invest only 2% or less of their overall education budgets in this field – even though, as UNESCO firmly believes, it is the best possible public investment for the future. Our report a

FAQs

What main challenge does the report highlight for adult learning and education?

Reaching those who need it most. Disadvantaged and vulnerable groups continue to miss out despite progress.

What positive participation trend is mentioned in the executive summary?

The number of adults—especially women—participating in education has grown in most Member States since 2018.

What does the report say about investment in adult learning and education?

Investment remains insufficient. Nearly half of all countries invest 2% or less of their overall education budgets in this field.

Oct 15, 2026

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