High-income parents teach their children independence, low-income parents teach obedience. The evidence in the graphs below is striking. An interesting theoretical model on how family values interact with social mobility. buff.ly/3j4DGrx

The World Cup has 48 teams. Our scoreboard reads differently: 21 of those nations run MICS surveys — 61 since 1995 — producing the data that tells us how their children are really doing. Ghana leads with 7. Iraq, back at the World Cup after 40 years, has its sixth in processing now. Goals get counted in 90 minutes. Children deserve to be counted too. #WorldCup2026 #MICS #DataForChildren

New in World Development: sibling correlations in schooling for 128 countries (94% of world pop). In the average country, ≥56% of education inequality reflects shared family background. Mobility is rising globally — but stalled in MENA & SSA. Open access: doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2…

🎈 New @UNICEFData report, out today for #InternationalDayOfPlay: ▪️ 80M children aged 2–4 (1 in 5) don't play with caregivers at home ▪️ 90M under-5s (1 in 7) have no playthings at home ▪️ Kids are half as likely to play with fathers as with mothers Play is not a luxury. 📖 data.unicef.org/resources/th…

For three decades, UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) have produced nationally owned, internationally comparable data on children in the hardest places — from Afghanistan to Yemen, Iraq to Somalia, the State of Palestine to Ukraine. Today 35 of the 39 economies on the World Bank's fragility list take part, and 23 are fielding a survey in the current round. What makes that possible is a model, not a one-off effort. MICS are designed and run by national statistical offices, with UNICEF technical assistance, to a common global standard — measuring the health, nutrition, learning and protection of children, women and families in a way that is comparable across countries and over time. The data belongs to the country; the standard is shared by the world. The chart below shows the reach: 427 surveys across seven rounds since the 1990s, with the darker blue marking fragile and conflict-affected economies in every round. "Fragile" is not a synonym for "unsurveyable." I see MICS as a foundational, nationally-owned layer of the FCV data architecture — the comparable base that faster, lighter instruments build on, not a substitute for them. Good data is a foundational infrastructure to prevention, planning and response; without it, the most vulnerable children, women and families go uncounted exactly where and when needs are greatest. I'm at the World Bank's Fragility Forum in Washington, D.C. this week, where the data behind children in fragile settings is squarely on the table. #FF2026 #FragilityForum #DataForChildren #MICS

The case for investing in children is settled. The unfinished work is measuring them — early, accurately, and to the same standard we hold GDP. That is where the next decade of human-capital progress will be won or lost. Check out some reflections from a UNICEF–World Bank session at the World Bank Group's New York Office Economic Series, built around World Bank's new report Building Human Capital Where It Matters: Homes, Neighborhoods, and Workplaces. linkedin.com/pulse/building-…

This Monday I’ll be moderating a session at the World Bank Group Fragility Forum — and I’d be glad to have you join, in person or online. “Safeguarding Data Systems for Food and Nutrition Security” — organized by the Global Network Against Food Crises, UNICEF, and Catholic Relief Services — tackles a problem we don’t name often enough: in fragile settings, one of the first things to break is our ability to see the crisis. When funding for data collection stops, the numbers fall silent — and silence is too easily mistaken for good news. Building on the 2026 Global Report on Food Crises, we’ll explore how to keep food and nutrition data reliable, protected, and actionable where systems are most likely to fail — and why these systems deserve to be treated as core infrastructure, not optional overhead. This is the third and final policy dialogue following the report’s launch, after London and Rome. When: Monday, June 8, 2026 · 4:45–5:45 PM ET Where: World Bank HQ, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, D.C. · Room MC6-100 Format: In person and online Speakers: – Gregory Makabila, MEAL Manager, Sudan Country Program, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) – Jean-Martin Bauer, Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis, World Food Programme (WFP) – Joanna Upton, Senior Research Associate, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University Registration is free — sign up and get the join link here: lnkd.in/ecYMhkQB The room seats about 50, so please arrive early if you’re joining in person. #FragilityForum2026

The disaggregation matters. In 2025: • 26 countries had a rural estimate (65% of rural pop) • 29 had an urban one (71% of urban pop) In 2017 those numbers were 5 (21%) and 13 (31%). Rural is catching up.