The United Nations (UN) created the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) to monitor progress toward achieving goals of the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection, and Development of Children and its plan of action. The MICS is nationally representative and internationally comparable.

In this study, we use MICS data from 51 low- and middle-income countries on 159 959 children between 36 and 59 months of age. To index national development, we used the 2013 UN Human Development Index (HDI), which provides data on country-level life expectancy, education, and income. To index child development, we used the Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI), which assesses literacy and numeracy, socioemotional development, physical health, and approaches to learning.

Children’s literacy and numeracy, socioemotional development, and approaches to learning all increase linearly as national development on the HDI (especially education) increases. Overall, the HDI revealed a positive association (r = 0.40) with the ECDI: the HDI explained 16% of variance in children’s ECDI scores and was the most influential predictor of ECDI scores examined. HDI-ECDI relations are robust, even when we control for multiple demographic aspects of children (age, sex), mothers (age, education), and households (size variables) as covariates. No family demographic variable was a stronger predictor of child development than national development.

To promote child development, low- and middle-income countries need to develop and implement policies that ensure national health and wealth and, particularly, the educational achievements of children’s caregivers. These findings are faithful to the World Summit for Children and inform the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which drive the international development agenda through 2030.

联合国 (UN) 创建了多指标类集调查 (MICS)，以监测实现《儿童生存、保护和发展世界宣言》及其行动计划目标的进展情况。MICS 具有全国代表性和国际可比性。

在这项研究中，我们使用来自 51 个低收入和中等收入国家的 159 959 名 36 至 59 个月大的儿童的 MICS 数据。为了将国家发展指数化，我们使用了 2013 年联合国人类发展指数 (HDI)，该指数提供了有关国家级预期寿命、教育和收入的数据。为了对儿童发展进行索引，我们使用了早期儿童发展指数 (ECDI)，该指数评估了识字和算术、社会情感发展、身体健康和学习方法。

随着国家在人类发展指数（尤其是教育）方面的发展，儿童的识字和算术、社会情感发展和学习方法都呈线性增长。总体而言，HDI 显示与 ECDI呈正相关 ( r = 0.40)：HDI 解释了儿童 ECDI 分数中 16% 的方差，并且是所检查的 ECDI 分数的最有影响力的预测因子。HDI-ECDI 关系是稳健的，即使我们将儿童（年龄、性别）、母亲（年龄、教育）和家庭（规模变量）的多个人口统计方面作为协变量进行控制。没有任何家庭人口变量比国家发展更能预测儿童发展。

为了促进儿童发展，低收入和中等收入国家需要制定和实施确保国家健康和财富的政策，尤其是儿童照料者的教育成就。这些调查结果忠实于世界儿童峰会，并为联合国可持续发展目标提供信息，推动国际发展议程到 2030 年。