The results are reflected in lower levels of under-five mortality, reduced fertility, improved health-care practices and later marriage and childbearing. Historically, enforcement of compulsory education has provided a powerful impetus towards ending child labour. In today's rich countries, that was a critical part of the largely successful effort to limit the practice in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Learning outcomes also matter and have a powerful effect on earnings, the distribution of income and long-term economic growth.