Why are adolescent girls key to global development? The answer in five charts.

Youth are coming of age in a world characterized by multiple intersecting crises including climate change and rising inequalities, and multiple technological and cultural shifts with wide ranging consequences for their collective wellbeing and outlook for the future.

There are now 1.2 billion young people aged 15 to 24 years, and their share of the global population is projected to grow. Investing in adolescent girls not only transforms individual lives but also generates significant economic and social returns that benefit us all. Healthy and educated adolescents can contribute to their families, communities and societies at their full potential driving economic growth and positive social transformation.  All contributing to the end of extreme poverty and the boosting of shared prosperity on a livable planet.

As we mark International Youth Day on August 12th, let’s look at the latest global data from the World Bank’s Gender Data Portal to better understand the social and economic realities of adolescent girls and young women and to build the case for putting them front and center in global development efforts.

Reason #1: Child marriage continues to be widespread

Child marriage is a form of gender-based violence (GBV) and has long-term effects on human capital development and economic opportunities, especially for girls. Data is available for 108 countries. Among these, in the typical country (or more specifically, the median country), one in five women of ages 20-24 were married before the age of 18. In some countries, however, more than half of the women are married before 18.

Child marriage not only disrupts childhoods, but is associated with lower educational attainment, an increased risk of early pregnancy, withdrawal from the labor force, diminished earning prospects, and limited voice and agency throughout life.
 

Reason #2: Adolescent fertility rates remain high in low-income countries.

Globally, adolescent fertility has been steadily declining over the last five decades, with the largest drop observed in lower middle-income countries.

However, teenage pregnancy remains common in low-income countries where the rate has been much slower in coming down. It is especially prevalent in countries affected by fragility, conflict and violence, and in countries facing intersecting crises.

Adolescent fertility rate, or the teenage pregnancy rate more informally, is the number of births per 1,000 women ages 15-19. It is associated with increased complications from childbirth, contributing to maternal mortality, low baby birthweight, and dramatically worse child survival. In seven countries, adolescent fertility is more than three times higher than the global average of 41.9 births per 1,000. In Niger, the country with the highest rate, 168 of every 1,000 girls in this age group gave birth in 2022.

Reason #3: The proportion of young women who are not employed or in school or training is consistently higher than for men.

More than a fifth of youth worldwide were not in education, employment, or training (NEET) in 2023, according to the International Labour Organization.

However, rates of NEET are higher for young women than their male peers almost everywhere pointing to gender-specific constraints. There are many often interlinked factors determining why youths drop out of school and from labor markets. For young women, specifically, evidence suggests early pregnancy and marriage, as well as the burden of household chores and unpaid care work play a decisive role. 

A high NEET rate for young women may also indicate the presence of social norms limiting female participation in labor markets.

Not only are NEET rates higher for women, they are also more likely to be permanent. This is apparent when comparing NEET rates of young adults (15 to 24) with the population of aged 25 to 34. The NEET rates for older men (ages 25 to 34) are lower than young men (ages 15-24), the rates for women remain nearly the same across the two populations. In other words, as men grow older they appear to engage with school, work, or other forms of training; women appear not to.

Reason #4: Youth unemployment is higher among women than among men in all world regions.

A staggering number of youths, 73 million, were unemployed in 2022. This is particularly the case for young women. Even though girls are getting educated at the same, if not h.igher, rate than boys, their gains in educational attainment often do not translate into employment. Greater economic participation of young women is hindered by a host of demand and supply-side barriers including lack of skills, assets and networks, time-based constraints, limited mobility, gender discrimination in hiring and promotion, and restrictive gender norms.

Supporting adolescent girls for a better world for all

Gender equality is, of course, a fundamental human right. But it’s also key to a more prosperous, peaceful, and livable world.

Keeping girls in school equips them to be the leaders of tomorrow’s politics and industry.  And when women are allowed to more fully participate in the economy or take on leadership positions, evidence shows that natural resources are better managed, resilience is strengthened, economies are more competitive.

Despite progress in recent years, our data show that girls continue to be more vulnerable than boys during adolescence. They face high levels of child marriage and adolescent fertility. They drop out of school at higher rates and do not enter the formal workforce as frequently.

If you care about ending poverty, then ending the barriers holding back adolescent girls is a critical step.