Urgent Call to Action: The State of Adolescent Girls' Rights After 30 Years of Progress

Despite Progress, Millions of Adolescent Girls Still Face Barriers to Education, Health, and Safety.

Despite significant achievements over the last three decades, millions of adolescent girls across the world remain out of school, vulnerable to harmful practices, and deprived of essential health services. A new report, Girl Goals: What has changed for girls? Adolescent girls’ rights over 30 years, launched by UNICEF, Plan International, and UN Women ahead of International Women’s Day, assesses the progress and continuing challenges faced by adolescent girls since the endorsement of the Beijing Platform for Action by 189 governments in 1995.

Key Findings from the Report

Education, Training, and Digital Skills

• The number of out-of-school girls has decreased by 39% over the past two decades, yet 122 million girls globally remain without access to education.
• Adolescent girls in South Asia are three times more likely than boys to be out of school, unemployed, or lacking training opportunities.
• Nearly 4 in 10 adolescent girls and young women worldwide do not complete upper secondary school, with marginalized communities at the highest risk.
• While literacy rates among adolescent girls and young women have improved, 50 million girls still cannot read or write a simple sentence.
• 9 out of 10 adolescent girls and young women in low-income countries lack access to the internet, while their male peers are twice as likely to be online.

Gender-Based Violence

• Nearly 1 in 4 adolescent girls who have been married or partnered have experienced intimate partner violence.
• 50 million girls alive today have suffered sexual violence.
• Over one-third of adolescent girls and boys (aged 15-19) globally believe that a husband is justified in hitting his wife under certain circumstances.

Harmful Practices

• The rate of female genital mutilation (FGM) is declining, with Burkina Faso and Liberia reducing the practice by half over the past 30 years. However, to meet the 2030 eradication goal, the rate of decline must be 27 times faster.
• Fewer girls today are marrying before age 18, yet 1 in 5 girls globally still experience child marriage.
• While South Asia has made significant progress in reducing child marriage, Latin America and the Caribbean have shown no improvement over the past 25 years.

Health and Wellbeing

• The number of adolescent girls giving birth has nearly halved in the past three decades. However, nearly 12 million adolescent girls (aged 15-19) are expected to give birth in 2025.
• Among younger adolescent girls (aged 10-14), 325,000 are estimated to give birth in 2025, a significant health risk.
• 1 in every 23 deaths among adolescent girls aged 15-19 globally is due to complications from pregnancy and childbirth.
• The proportion of underweight adolescent girls has slightly decreased, from 10% to 8% over the last 30 years.

Recommendations for Action

The report calls for urgent global action to unlock the potential of adolescent girls and provides the following key recommendations:

1. Elevating adolescent girls' voices by supporting their advocacy and ensuring their perspectives shape policymaking on issues affecting their lives.
2. Addressing areas where progress has stalled, with a strong focus on closing the education, skills, and training gap for girls, while also considering emerging global trends.
3. Investing based on data-driven evidence, prioritizing the most pressing gaps in adolescent girls' rights and focusing on large-scale, targeted actions for economic empowerment.

Voices from Global Leaders

Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director, emphasized the transformative potential of adolescent girls: “Adolescent girls are a powerful force for global change. With the right support at the right time, they can help deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals and reshape our world.”

Kathleen Sherwin, Chief Strategy and Engagement Officer for Plan International, warned of the fragility of progress: “Tireless efforts to combat gender inequality mean that a girl’s chances of going to school are significantly higher than three decades ago, and her chances of marrying or becoming pregnant as a child much lower. There is much to celebrate – but at the same time, this progress is fragile, uneven, and constantly under threat.”

Sima Bahous, UN Women Executive Director, called for urgent action: “Too many adolescent girls still face violence, limited education, and lack of health services. Our promise of leaving no one behind demands urgent action.”

The Road Ahead: Investing in Adolescent Girls for a More Equitable Future

The progress made in improving adolescent girls' lives over the past three decades proves that change is possible. However, more must be done to accelerate progress, address disparities, and create a world where every girl can reach her full potential. By investing in education, health, digital access, and legal protections, the global community can build a future that is safer, fairer, and more inclusive for adolescent girls everywhere.