A report released by one of the world's oldest and largest international development agencies says that the failure to adequately educate girls costs developing nations more than $92 billion every year.
According to Plan, a child-centered community rights group, data provided by the World Bank and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) indicates that the cost of failing to educate girls almost equals the developed world's $103 billion annual overseas development aid budget.
The group's report,
Paying the Price: The economic cost of failing to educate girls, says that "those who oppose girls' education are doing great damage not only to the girls and their families but also to wider communities and economies." The report's "Reflecting on the numbers" section includes the following observations:
- Countries in South and West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa have the worst record on educating girls to secondary level. India alone misses out on potential economic growth worth about $33 billion per annum. Other major losers include Turkey ($20 billion) and Russia ($9.8 billion).
- Nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa have a gap of 10 percentage points or more between the proportion of girls educated to secondary level and the proportion of boys. Yet, despite this poor record, the region's total lost annual growth ($5.3 billion) is limited by the small size of its economies.
- By contrast, just two countries in South and Central America fail to educate girls to the same standard as boys. Indeed, many have more girls in secondary education than boys.
The report did include some good news for advocates of girls' education, noting that net primary enrollment rates for girls across the globe increased from 78 percent in 1990 to 85 percent in 2005, and that secondary enrollment for girls had improved from 47 percent to 57 percent over the same 15 years.
Labels: economics, education, girls
