14/07/2026 15:49 - Internacionales
The silent crisis affecting developing nations has been brought to light. According to a report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) published on July 10, 2026, most developing countries spent less on education than on paying their external debt during 2025. The document, titled Breaking the debt trap: policy paper on restoring fiscal space to save education, exposes how debt servicing is strangling the capacity of States to finance essential public services.
For context, external debt refers to the money owed by a country to foreign lenders, including commercial banks, foreign governments, or international financial institutions. When a large portion of a nation's budget goes to servicing this debt (paying interest and principal), very little is left for domestic needs. The situation is particularly critical in Sub-Saharan Africa, where countries allocated 3.6 times more funds to debt payments than to education. Eighteen of the most indebted countries spent five times more on debt than on education, reaching an extreme of 16 times more in the case of Sri Lanka.
The panorama is worsened by a marked decrease in international aid. It is projected that global aid to education could decrease by up to 30% by 2027. Low- and middle-income countries have already lost 21% of the assistance they received in 2023. Nations such as Afghanistan, Mali, Niger, and Liberia have seen their aid reduced by more than 40% in just three years.
Funding cuts by the United States and Europe caused a drop of 600 million dollars in education financing in 2024, a trend estimated to have continued downward in 2025. According to the campaign group Debt Justice (a UK-based organization advocating for the cancellation of unjust debts of developing nations), debt payments by the poorest countries reached their highest level in 35 years last year, with 56 nations allocating almost a fifth of their total income to cover financial commitments.
Min Jeong Kim, director of the education division at UNESCO, warned that current policies keep countries trapped in a cycle of austerity, underinvestment, and stalled development. This not only affects economic growth but reduces tax revenues and weakens the capacity to manage debt in the long term.
Lack of adequate funding causes direct disruptions in educational systems: schools lacking funds to operate and teachers not receiving their salaries. To reverse this trend, UNESCO and civil society organizations are demanding a structural change in debt relief. Tim Jones, from Debt Justice, suggested that the United Kingdom take advantage of its G20 presidency in 2027 to implement profound changes in the debt relief process, including the possibility of cancellations and a legal framework preventing private creditors from blocking agreements to obtain more profits, as recently happened with Ethiopia.
The challenge is monumental, but there is immense hope if the international community acts with urgency and coordinates efforts to prioritize education as an engine for sustainable development and a true way out of the debt trap. You can read more about these global initiatives on the UNESCO official website.
Alfredo S. Quiroga
