Ireland has come second among 41 wealthy nations in reducing education inequality between children.

A report by the UN's children agency looks at European Union and OECD countries.

Only Latvia ranks higher than Ireland in reducing inequalities in children's reading scores by age 15 - with Ireland ahead of other highly ranked countries such as Spain, Denmark and Estonia.

It highlights that while Ireland is ranked in the bottom third of countries when it comes to preschool enrolment, it moves towards the top of the rankings in lowering inequality towards the end of secondary school.

That contrasts to France - which has one of the highest rates of preschool enrolment, but falls to the bottom third by secondary school.

However, according to UNICEF, there are still concerns in Ireland among vulnerable groups such as homeless children, Traveller children and those from migrant families.

Looking at all 41 countries, the report finds substantial gender differences in children's reading abilities at age 15 - ranging from girls doing 2% better than boys in Ireland, to girls doing 12% better than boys in Bulgaria.

The agency recommends a number of measures in order to reduce inequalities - ranging from guaranteeing high-quality early childhood education for all children, to reducing the impact of socio-economic inequalities.

UNICEF observes: "High income is no guarantee of high equality. Some of the poorest countries included in this report, such as Latvia and Lithuania, have higher preschool enrolment rates and lower inequality in reading performance in primary and secondary school than those with far greater resources.

"However, almost universally, children from less privileged families do worse. Yet, the data reveal there is much more inequality within countries than there is between countries."