In just a matter of weeks, the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to huge societal public health and economic challenges worldwide. The clinical effects of COVID-19 on young children are uncertain when compared with older age groups, with lower morbidity and mortality rates and no conclusive evidence supporting transmission during pregnancy; however, there is emerging evidence of increasing rates of child hyperinflammatory shock.1-3 Research on the effects of prior pandemics and disasters clearly indicates that there will be both immediate and long-term adverse consequences for many children, with particular risks faced during early childhood, when brain architecture is still rapidly developing and highly sensitive to environmental adversity.

Recent international development efforts have emphasized the importance of supporting early childhood development, yet little is known about the availability of early learning opportunities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The present study uses nationally representative data from >163,000 three- and four-year-olds living in 63 countries to estimate the availability of in- and out-of-home early learning opportunities in LMICs. Results suggest that 71.9% of preschool-aged children experience high levels of at-home stimulation (e.g., reading, counting, drawing), 33.6% attend center-based early childhood care and education (ECCE) programming, 29.1% experience both, and 22.9% experience neither. Large geographical and socioeconomic disparities in learning opportunities were found both across and within countries, particularly for ECCE.

In September 2016, the member states of the United Nations completed the process of adopting and defining indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; United Nations, 2015). Developed through a three-year, worldwide participatory process, these 17 goals and 169 targets represent a global consensus on the part of U.N. member nations towards an inclusive, sustainable world, centered around ensuring equity in all countries at a time of great environmental and humanitarian crises. This Social Policy Report describes the central role of supporting child and youth development in achieving the vision behind the U.N. Sustainable Development Agenda. The report then addresses the importance of developmental science in achieving the aims of the Sustainable Development Agenda through generating knowledge of child and youth development in diverse contexts, monitoring and measurement to reveal patterns of success and inequity, and building capacity for developmental science in all countries. We emphasize the goal that most clearly encompasses development from birth to young adulthood (SDG 4) and also describe the relevance of developmental science to the other goals.