Professor Wolfgang Lutz

Prize

Yidan Prize for Education Research

Year

2024

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Professor Wolfgang Lutz

Distinguished Emeritus Scholar, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

Expertise

Statistics and demography; Global sustainable development; Climate adaptability

Understanding how education unlocks human progress

Professor Wolfgang Lutz’s work as a statistician and demographer has shaped our understanding of how education underpins human potential and wellbeing. It gives us a clearer picture of the links between learning and human capital — that is, the value of a population’s knowledge, skills, and experience. And he’s helping to re-center education on the global agenda for sustainable development, particularly as we urgently grapple with the consequences of climate change.

 

Early on, Wolfgang found that most models of sustainable development are incomplete because they don’t include education — partly because of a lack of reliable data on human capital. He went on to develop methods to link school enrolment levels to adult human capital. They’ve become the foundation for global projections — which now include not just education levels but quality of skills. All of which gives us a statistical picture of the benefits of education in areas including health, economic growth, and gender equity.

 

Thanks to his work, education is central to global efforts to reduce risk and increase capacity to adapt to climate change. His work positions education as a key factor in the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways Scenarios (SSPS) as well as influencing global scientific assessments like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

 

Crucially, much of Wolfgang’s work is available to all, opening new avenues for analysis and research. He established the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital (WIC), which offers rich data sets on the role of education in demography, to provide quality evidence for decision-making at various levels.

Wolfgang Lutz is one of the world’s leading demographers. Demographers usually help us understand how our populations evolve and what that means for our future. What Wolfgang has added to the field is understanding the difference that education makes to this.

Andreas Schleicher

Panel Head, Judging Panel for Education Research, Yidan Prize

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Meet Professor Wolfgang Lutz

5:45

Five questions with our 2024 Yidan Prize for Education Research Laureate

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Hear from Andreas Schleicher

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2024 Yidan Prize