cover image: Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, Fall 2024: Better Education for Stronger Growth

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Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, Fall 2024: Better Education for Stronger Growth

17 Oct 2024

Economic growth in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is likely to moderate from 3.5 percent in 2023 to 3.3 percent this year. This is significantly weaker than the 4.1 percent average growth in 2000-19. Growth this year is driven by expansionary fiscal policies and strong private consumption. External demand is less favorable because of weak economic expansion in major trading partners, like the European Union. Growth is likely to slow further in 2025, mostly because of the easing of expansion in the Russian Federation and Turkiye. This Europe and Central Asia Economic Update calls for a major overhaul of education systems across the region, particularly higher education, to unleash the talent needed to reinvigorate growth and boost convergence with high-income countries. Universities in the region suffer from poor management, outdated curricula, and inadequate funding and infrastructure. A mismatch between graduates' skills and the skills employers are seeking leads to wasted potential and contributes to the region's brain drain. Reversing the decline in the quality of education will require prioritizing improvements in teacher training, updated curricula, and investment in educational infrastructure. In higher education, reforms are needed to consolidate university systems, integrate them with research centers, and provide reskilling opportunities for adult workers.
education poverty reduction macroeconomics and economic growth

Authors

Izvorski, Ivailo, Kasyanenko, Sergiy, Lokshin, Michael M., Torre, Iván

Citation
“ Izvorski, Ivailo ; Kasyanenko, Sergiy ; Lokshin, Michael M. ; Torre, Iván . 2024 . Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, Fall 2024: Better Education for Stronger Growth . © Washington, DC: World Bank . http://hdl.handle.net/10986/41997 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO . ”
Collection(s)
Europe and Central Asia Economic Update
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1596/41997
ISBN
978-1-4648-2185-1
Pages
25
Published in
United States of America
Rights
CC BY 3.0 IGO
Rights Holder
World Bank
Rights URI
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/
UNIT
Europe and Central Asia Office of the Chief Economist
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/41997
region administrative
Europe and Central Asia (ECA)
region geographical
Europe , Central Asia

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