According to UNESCO, 40% of people worldwide lack access to education in a language they can understand.

According to UNESCO Global Education Monitoring (GEM) team, 40% of the world's population lacks access to education in a language they can comprehend or speak. In certain low- and middle-income nations, this percentage increases to 90%. In order to create educational systems that benefit all students, GEM authorities recommended that countries adopt multilingual education policies and practices, stating that over a quarter of a billion students are impacted.

The team published a study titled "Languages matter Global guidance on multilingual education" and pointed out that classrooms with students from different linguistic backgrounds are becoming more prevalent as linguistic diversity becomes a worldwide reality due to increased migration. Education for more than 31 million displaced adolescents is hampered by language problems.

In honor of 25 years of devoted work to maintain and advance the use of mother tongues, the report was put together on the 25th anniversary of International Mother Language Day.