8 Girls’ Education Facts Everyone Should Know This Back-to-School Season

Back-to-school season can make education feel like a given. A new school year begins, students return to classrooms, and learning picks up where it left off.

But for millions of girls around the world, going to school — and staying enrolled — is far from guaranteed.

Girls have made significant gains in education over the past several decades. More girls are attending and completing school than previous generations. But at the global level, barriers like poverty, conflict, child marriage, gender norms, and unequal access to opportunity continue to shape who gets to learn and what happens after they enter the classroom.

Here are eight girls’ education facts that put the state of gender inequality into perspective.

1. 133 million girls around the world are out of school.

Despite decades of progress in girls’ education, 133 million girls remain out of school globally.

That number represents millions of individual girls whose education may be interrupted or entirely out of reach because of barriers ranging from poverty and conflict to child marriage, caregiving responsibilities, safety concerns, or discriminatory policies.

Barriers to education severely limit girls’ future opportunities. The longer girls stay in school, the more opportunities they have to develop skills, make informed choices about their futures, and participate meaningfully in their communities.

2. Nearly 4 in 10 adolescent girls do not complete upper secondary school.

Getting into a classroom is one challenge. Staying there long enough to complete an education is another.

Globally, nearly 4 in 10 adolescent girls do not complete upper secondary school.

Girls can leave school for many reasons, and those reasons often overlap. These barriers also become more pronounced as girls get older. Financial pressure may make school unaffordable. Household responsibilities may compete with time for learning. Pregnancy, child marriage, safety concerns, or gender expectations can make continuing an education even more difficult.

3. Conflict makes girls even more likely to miss out on education.

Conflict can disrupt education for every child, but girls are often on the frontline of risk.

Girls living in conflict-affected countries are more than twice as likely to be out of school as girls living in countries unaffected by conflict, and are nearly 90% more likely to be out of secondary school than girls in stable settings.

Conflict can force families from their homes, close schools, increase safety concerns, and deepen financial hardship. For girls, these pressures can also increase the likelihood of early marriage, caregiving responsibilities, or other circumstances that make completing their education difficult.

4. 63% of countries do not explicitly protect pregnant girls’ right to education.

Pregnancy should not mean the end of a girl’s education. Yet in 63% of countries, legislation does not explicitly protect girls’ right to education in the case of pregnancy.

In fact, 4% of countries worldwide have legal restrictions that prohibit pregnant students from attending regular school. 

When girls are pushed out of school because they are pregnant — or lack clear protections that allow them to continue or return — an already challenging situation can have consequences for their education, future employment, financial independence, and ability to make decisions about their lives.

Keeping girls in school means ensuring education systems are designed to include them, even when their circumstances change.

5. Child marriage remains a major barrier to girls staying in school.

Every year, an estimated 12 million girls worldwide are married before turning 18. Globally, about 1 in 5 girls marries in childhood.

Child marriage and education are deeply connected. Marriage can interrupt a girl’s schooling, while expanding access to secondary education can help reduce rates of child marriage.

The benefits of secondary education extend much further, too. Investments in girls’ secondary education are associated with higher lifetime earnings and national growth, as well as declines in child marriage, child mortality, and maternal mortality. 

Girls deserve to see their 18th birthday without having to question if marriage will take away their education.

6. Only 49% of countries have achieved gender parity in primary education.

Progress in girls’ education has been significant, but equal access is still far from universal. Only 49% of countries have achieved gender parity in primary education.

That means that in more than half of the world, girls and boys are still not participating in primary education at equal rates. And those inequalities can become even more pronounced as students move into secondary school and face additional financial, social, and gender-based barriers.

Gender parity is an important measure of progress, but it is also a reminder that access to education can still depend heavily on where a girl lives and the circumstances around her.

7. Funding cuts could push millions more girls out of school.

Progress in girls’ education is not guaranteed, and resources often determine progress.

Experts have warned that cuts to global education funding could force 6 million more children out of school by the end of 2026, with girls and children in humanitarian settings among those facing some of the greatest risks.

Funding decisions can determine whether schools stay open, teachers remain in classrooms, and children have access to the services they need to continue learning.

8. Investing in girls’ education has an impact far beyond school.

Girls’ education is sometimes discussed as if the benefit begins and ends with earning a diploma. The evidence tells a much bigger story.

Investing in girls’ secondary education can increase girls’ lifetime earnings and reduce child marriage, child mortality, and maternal mortality.

Education gives girls greater access to information, skills, opportunities, and choices to create a life of their own design. But its impact does not stop with one girl. It can shape families, communities, economies, and the lives of the generations that follow.

Girls’ Education Is Everyone’s Responsibility

Back-to-school season is a natural moment to think about students returning to classrooms. It can also be a moment to think about the girls who are still excluded from them — and the barriers that keep them out.

Girls’ education is not one problem with one simple solution. It is connected to poverty, safety, health, child marriage, public policy, gender expectations, and whether girls have the support and opportunities they need to keep learning.

That means there is a role for all of us. We can pay attention to the policies that affect girls’ ability to stay in school. We can challenge expectations that limit what girls are encouraged to study or pursue. We can support efforts that remove barriers to education. And we can listen to girls themselves about what they need to learn and thrive.

This back-to-school season, understanding the barriers girls face and the girls’ education facts shaping our world is one place to start. Building a world where more girls can learn and choose their own futures takes all of us.

Interested in learning more about the statistics shaping girls’ lives? Check out our article, 7 Eye-Opening Period Poverty Statistics Everyone Should Know.

Global Girls Glow mentors girls around the world to become powerful advocates and confident leaders. Through our signature program, GLOW Club, we create safe, supportive spaces for girls in some of the world’s most underserved areas to connect with trusted mentors, develop the confidence to lead, and begin dreaming without limits. Since our founding, we’ve ignited the power of more than 100,000 girls — and we’re just getting started.