The benefits of education are immense — for one, your ability to read and understand the rest of this article, among many other things. As a society, we recognize the crucial value of education and that’s why access to a quality education is a globally-recognized human right.
Decades of research show that education is a major factor in the reduction of child mortality and poverty overall, as well as improving peace and stability. According to Malala Fund, when a country gives all its children secondary education, it cuts that country’s risk of war in half. Education also improves our capacity to contribute to our communities and gives us many much-needed tools to navigate an ever-changing world. Education is important, for everyone.
Now, while there are more girls going to school in the world today than ever before, the situation of girls’ education globally is still relatively dire — 133 million girls are still out of school worldwide. A World Bank report states: “Limited educational opportunities for girls, and barriers to completing 12 years of education, cost countries between $15 trillion and $30 trillion in lost lifetime productivity and earnings.”
This impact is not limited to countries. At an individual level, women with more education are more likely to be informed about nutrition and health care, marry later, and have fewer children — who are generally healthier than those of women with less education. They are also more likely to participate in the labor market and earn higher incomes.
Persistent disparities in girls’ education are associated with long-term social and economic costs and limit opportunities for many girls.
Change starts with all of us knowing the problem. So we’ve put together key facts about girls’ education that highlight ongoing challenges. Buckle down.
1. Worldwide, over 130 million girls are out of school.
That’s more than the population of the United Kingdom and France put together. According to the World Bank, 38% of girls complete lower secondary school, compared with around 43% of boys.
2. Girls who have no education are three times as likely to marry by age 18.
Each year, around 12 million girls are married before their 18th birthday, meaning child marriage remains widespread despite declines in many regions.
Girls who have little or no education are significantly more likely to marry before age 18 than girls with secondary schooling — research suggests girls with no education are up to three times as likely to marry early compared to those who complete secondary or higher education.
Child marriage not only undermines their education and future opportunities, often leading to early school dropout, it increases the risk of adolescent pregnancy, increases exposure to intimate partner violence, and means poorer health and economic outcomes for both the girls and their children.
3. Climate-related displacement disproportionately affects women and girls.
Extreme weather events and climate disasters disrupt schooling, destroy schools and infrastructure, and frequently force families to make difficult choices that can lead to girls dropping out of school. Displacement caused by climate disasters has been linked with early marriage, school drop-outs, and teen pregnancies, according to the UN’s child agency UNICEF.
On the flip side, there is evidence that education — especially for girls — contributes to greater resilience to climate shocks at the community and national level.
This link arises because educated girls and women tend to have better access to information, decision-making, employment and leadership roles, all of which strengthen social and economic structures that help communities prepare for and recover from climate crises.
4. Girls in conflict and crisis settings are far more likely to be out of school.
Girls living in conflict- and crisis-affected countries face some of the highest barriers to education anywhere in the world. According to Education Cannot Wait, crisis-affected settings account for nearly half of all out-of-school children globally, even though they represent a much smaller share of the global school-age population. Girls in these environments are significantly more likely to be excluded from education than girls living in stable contexts, particularly at the secondary level.
Conflict, displacement, and poverty often cut girls off from schools, while insecurity, child marriage, and domestic responsibilities further increase dropout risks. The World Bank finds that gender gaps in education are widest in fragile and conflict-affected settings, where girls are more likely than boys to leave school early and less likely to transition to secondary education.
In some countries, these barriers are extreme. In Afghanistan, girls have been barred from attending secondary school and university, effectively denying millions of girls the right to an education and reversing decades of progress.
As UNICEF Director of Education Robert Jenkins noted in 2022, Afghan girls face not only restrictions on schooling, but also economic collapse and mounting financial pressure on families — compounding the challenges that prevent girls from returning to education.
5. 60 million girls are sexually assaulted on their way to or at school every year.
Sexual assault and violence have serious consequences for girls' access to completion of education. It also affects their mental and physical health and overall well-being, while also leading to lower school attendance and higher dropout rates, according to the World Bank.
Furthermore, school-related gender-based violence, which can result in adolescent pregnancies, stigma, and discrimination, affects an estimated 246 million children worldwide.
“If every girl received 12 years of schooling, child marriage would plunge by two-thirds, and girls’ higher lifetime earnings would grow economies by as much as US$30 trillion,” the GPE said in a report — highlighting the immense benefits the world stands to gain from paying attention to, and investing, in girls’ education.
We must not give up on the millions of girls around the world who are being deprived of their human right to education, and unite to call on leaders across every level to prioritize education for girls. Join Global Citizens around the world who are taking action to stand up for girls’ education by downloading the Global Citizen appand taking action now.