20 October 2016: The latest ‘State of World Population’ report from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) identifies ten-year-old girls and boys as the “SDG Generation,” stressing that progress for young girls is essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 2016 edition of the SWOP report focuses on ten-year-olds, and underscores the benefits of investments in girls’ education and health care to ensure progress towards the SDGs.
A 10-year-old girl’s life trajectory “will be the true test of whether the 2030 Agenda is a success or failure.”
SWOP 2016 argues that ten-year-olds are at a crucial age, because they begin making choices that have consequences for the rest of their education and lives. Further, the report states, public policies typically focus on young children or older adolescents, and fail to manage the potential risks faced by ten-year-old girls. In some parts of the world, ten-year-olds are taken out of school, forced to get married, or have children, with one out of three girls in developing countries being married before the age of 18. The report asserts that “a 10-year-old girl’s life trajectory will be the true test of whether the 2030 Agenda is a success or failure.”
The report identifies these girls as among the population groups most in danger of being left behind. Detailed data about ten-year-olds and their lives are scarce, it finds, with this age group falling “between the cracks in national and international data collection.” Consequently, the report explains, it is harder for governments and other institutions to prepare and invest in girls’ futures.
The report highlights the importance of SDG 5 (Gender equality) and SDG 10 (Reduced inequalities), for increasing the chance of achieving all of the SDGs. The report further stresses the importance of SDG 1 (No poverty), SDG 2 (Zero hunger), SDG 3 (Good health and well-being), SDG 4 (Quality education) and SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth), for ensuring that every girl and women can pursue an education, find decent work and contribute to her family and community. It highlights potential policy paths towards success, ranging from banning child marriage, allocating financial support to send girls from low-income families to school, and ensuring access to sex education for children of all ages.
The report stresses that, “for countries at the start of the transition, which are among the world’s poorest, the SDGs open an opportunity to lay a foundation for a demographic dividend by investing in the health, education and empowerment of the 10-year-old girl.” It explains that, for countries in transition or on the curve of sustaining gains, maximizing such demographic dividends will depend on bringing women into the paid workforce, equipping them with advanced skills and harnessing their productivity.
The report further underscores the relationship between educated, healthy girls and economic growth, agricultural productivity, decreased infant and maternal mortality and increased resilience to climate change. It concludes that investing in the health, education and empowerment of ten-year-old girls can triple a girl’s lifetime income, with corresponding gains for their communities and countries.
“Preventing a girl from living a safe and healthy childhood in order to make her a reproductive and autonomous adult too soon is a violation of her rights” said UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin. Moreover, it “takes a toll on her community and her country. Every time a girl’s potential and talent are not nurtured and tapped, we are all diminished.” [UN Press Release] [Publication: The State of World Population 2016] [UNFPA 10 Facts About 10-year-olds] [Publication Website] [UNRIC Press Release]