(ANS – Rome) Tomorrow [today], October 11, marks the World Day of Girls and Young Women, proclaimed by the UN in 2012. Around this time, the  “Terre des Hommes” NGO published a new report on the living conditions of minors on various continents.

Since 2015, the female school population in the world has increased by 50 million, and the school completion rate of girls has improved. However, the number of those who have never been to school or who have interrupted it due to wars, natural disasters, or forced marriages remains very high: 122 million in the world.

In the world, a fifth of girls between 15 and 29 years old (equal to 20.1%) do not study, work, or follow training courses (NEET); among males, the percentage drops to 11.8 percent.

Many girls are also forced into early marriages: in fact, there are about 640 million girls between the ages of 20 and 24 who married when they were minors. Between 2020 and 2022 globally, the percentage of girls forced to marry before the age of 18 has, however, decreased.

The pandemic and climate change have contributed to making girls even more vulnerable, aggravating risk factors such as poverty, school dropout, lack of food, and loss of family income.

Salesian missionaries living and working in more than 130 countries worldwide focus on achieving gender equality through educational programs specifically aimed at girls.

Photo Credit: Foto di archivio