Children from poorest households benefit the least from public education funding - UNICEF.

Governments are not investing enough in those children who need education the most, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a report published on Tuesday, calling for equitable financing to combat "learning poverty".

Children from the poorest households benefit the least from national public education funding, according to the study, which examines data from 102 countries.

Currently, the poorest 20 per cent of learners benefit from only 16 per cent of public funding for education, while the richest benefit from 28 per cent.

In low-income countries, the breakdown is 11 per cent and 42 per cent, respectively.

"We are failing children. Too many education systems around the world are investing the least in those children who need it the most," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.

"Investing in the education of the poorest children is the most cost-effective way to ensure the future for children, communities and countries. True progress can only come when we invest in every child, everywhere," she added.

The report - Transforming Education with Equitable Financing - looks at government spending from pre-primary through tertiary education.

Just a one percentage point increase in the allocation of public education resources to the poorest quintile of learners could potentially lift 35 million primary school-aged children out of what UNICEF called "learning poverty".

Across the world, public education spending is more likely to reach learners from wealthier households, which applies in both low- and middle-income countries.

The gap is most pronounced among low-income countries, UNICEF said. Data showed that children from the richest households benefit from over six times the amount of public education funding compared to the poorest learners.

In middle-income countries, such as Ivory Coast and Senegal, the richest...