On Measuring and Decomposing Inequality of Opportunity among Children: Evidence from Tunisia

Abstract

Building on the current literature that increasingly recognizes inequality of opportunity among children, this paper analyzes to what extent access to basic education and core services is influenced by family and individual background factors in Tunisia. The analysis uses the Human Opportunity Index (HOI) methodology developed recently at the World Bank, and micro data from the National Survey on Households’ Budget, Consumption and Standard of Living (HBCLS) for 2010. The main contribution of the study is its in-depth investigation of the key factors affecting child development in Tunisia. The results reveal large and persistent interregional and intra-regional disparities among children, mainly in pre-secondary school enrollment and access to safe water and sanitation services. Such inequalities of opportunity, obviously shown between inland and littoral regions, are found to be driven mainly by geographic factors and parents” education and wealth. These findings may have important policy implications in term of developing better-targeted interventions aiming to reduce inequality in accessing basic services.