Education and research: Chokepoints and risks

Schools, universities, training providers and public or corporate labs building skills

Chokepoints and risks

• Funding inequality: low-income countries account for only 0.45% of global education spending, and households pay 44% of costs in lower-middle-income countries¹.
• Helium supply: research magnets and cryogenics rely on a gas produced in only a few countries, with sharp price spikes in shortages.
• Concentration of research capacity: China and the US each spend about US$ 0.78 trillion on R&D, against about US$ 75.7 billion for India².
• Exam integrity and data failures at single national testing bodies can delay admissions for millions.
• Weak learning pipeline in India: school enrolment is drifting down and secondary retention was only 47.2% in 2024-25^3,7.