Impact of Armed Conflict on Education and Human Capital

Armed conflicts exert profound and multifaceted effects on education and the accumulation of human capital. Hostilities often result in the destruction of schools, the displacement of teachers and learners, and disruption of curricula, undermining basic access to learning. Beyond physical damage, pervasive fear, forced migration and economic collapse contribute to elevated dropout rates, diminished enrolment and interruptions in schooling trajectories. Such educational losses translate into long-term deficits in skills, cognitive development and labour productivity, perpetuating cycles of poverty and hampering national development. Moreover, the indirect consequences of conflict—such as breakdowns in health services and family incomes—exacerbate learning disabilities and malnutrition, further impeding the acquisition of human capital. Research underscores the role of community engagement and social networks in fostering educational resilience, highlighting targeted interventions—from emergency feeding programmes to locally driven financial contributions—that can mitigate adverse impacts and support recovery. Understanding these dynamics is essential for designing policies that safeguard learning during crises and rebuild human capital in post-conflict settings.

Research from Nature Portfolio

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Impact of Armed Conflict on Education and Human Capital publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in impact of armed conflict on education and human capital across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Human capital: The stock of knowledge, skills and health that enables individuals to realise economic productivity.

Educational resilience: The capacity of learners, institutions and communities to maintain and recover learning outcomes under conditions of crisis and disruption.

Conflict spillover effects: Indirect consequences of violence that affect regions and populations beyond sites of active hostilities.

Social capital: The networks, norms and trust that facilitate coordination and collective action within communities.

References

1. Violence and the Right to Education in the Northern Triangle of Central America. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research (2023).
2. The impacts of armed conflict on human development: A review of the literature. World Development (2025).
3. Leveraging social capital for educational resilience in conflict: The impact of community behaviors on educational access in pre-Taliban ruling Afghanistan. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (2024).
4. School Feeding or General Food Distribution? Quasi-Experimental Evidence on the Educational Impacts of Emergency Food Assistance during Conflict in Mali. The Journal of Development Studies (2019).
5. Violence and Human Capital Investments. Journal of Labor Economics (2021).
6. Armed conflict, education access, and community resilience: Evidence from the Afghanistan NRVA Survey 2005 and 2007. International Journal of Educational Development (2022).