Overview

• Established by the UN General Assembly in 2011 and first marked in 2012, the day is observed every October 11 to recognize girls’ rights and spotlight the challenges they face.
• UNICEF estimates there are more than 600 million adolescent girls aged 10 to 19 worldwide.
• Reported global harms remain extensive, including over 230 million girls and women affected by female genital mutilation, around 650 million women married before 18, and one in eight experiencing sexual violence before adulthood, with adolescent pregnancy cited as a leading cause of mortality.
• Structural barriers persist, with girls aged 5 to 14 performing an estimated 160 million additional hours of unpaid care work daily compared with boys, significant secondary-school completion gaps, and about 90% of adolescent girls and young women in the least developed countries not using the internet while boys are roughly twice as likely to have access.
• Economic and skills divides endure, as young women 15 to 24 are reported to be twice as likely as young men to be out of education and work (28% vs 13% in 2023), few girls plan to study STEM (8% vs 27% of boys), and analyses suggest that narrowing gender gaps could add up to $12 trillion to global GDP.