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Gender Statistics

Education

• Worldwide, 774 million adults lack basic literacy skills, as measured by conventional methods. Some 64% of them are women, a share virtually unchanged since the early 1990s. ³
  3. UNESCO (2007) EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008. Education for All by 2015: Will we make it? Paris: UNESCO. http://www.efareport.unesco.org
  
  
  
• Of the 72 million primary school aged children who do not attend school worldwide, 57 percent are girls; in addition, girls are 4 percent less likely than boys to complete primary school.⁴
  4. The World Bank (2007) World Development Indicators 2007. Washington, DC: The World Bank. http://www.worldbank.org/data/
  
  
  
• In developing countries, 85 percent of girls are enrolled in primary school, while 75 percent are actually in attendance. ⁵
  5. UNICEF (2006) The State of the World's Children 2007. "Table 5: Education." New York: UNICEF. http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/report/report.php
  
  
  
• In developing countries, 51 percent of girls are enrolled in secondary school, while 43 percent are actually in attendance. ⁶
  6. UNICEF (2006) The State of the World's Children 2007. "Table 5: Education." New York: UNICEF. http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/report/report.php
  
  
  
• More than 115 million children are out of primary school worldwide; as 53 percent of these children are girls, for every 100 boys out of school, there are 115 girls out of school. ⁷
  7. UNICEF (2006) The State of the World's Children 2007. New York: UNICEF. http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/report/report.php
  
  
  
• In developing countries, nearly one out of every five girls who enrolls in primary school does not complete her primary education. ⁸
  8. UNICEF (2006) The State of the World's Children 2007. New York: UNICEF. http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/report/report.php
  
  
  
• Learn more about USAID's work to promote gender equality in education.

Health

• In developing countries, 1 in 61 women die during pregnancy and childbirth; in least developed countries, 1 in 17 die. ⁹
  9. UNICEF (2007) The State of the World's Children 2007. "Table 8: Women." New York: UNICEF. http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/report/report.php
  
  
  
• An estimated 529,000 women die a year - at least one woman every minute - from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth, leaving behind children who are more likely to die because they are motherless. ¹⁰
  10. WHO (2005) The World Health Report 2005: Make Every Mother and Child Count. "Chapter 1: Mothers and Children Matter - So Does Their Health." Geneva: WHO. http://www.who.int/whr/2005/chapter1/en/index.html
  
  
  
• Over 300 million women in the developing world suffer from short-term or long-term illness brought about by pregnancy and childbirth. ¹¹
  11. WHO (2005) The World Health Report 2005: Make Every Mother and Child Count. "Chapter 1: Mothers and Children Matter - So Does Their Health." Geneva: WHO. http://www.who.int/whr/2005/chapter1/en/index.html
  
  
  
• Learn more about USAID's work in global health.

Trafficking

• According to U.S. Government-sponsored research completed in 2006, approximately 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders annually. In addition, millions of victims are trafficked within their own national borders. ¹²
  12. U.S. Department of State (June 2007) Trafficking in Persons Report, p. 8. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State. http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/global_issues/human_trafficking/traffick_report.html
  
  
  
• Approximately 80 percent of transnational trafficking victims are women and girls and up to 50 percent are minors. The majority of transnational victims are females trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation. ¹³
  13. U.S. Department of State (June 2007) Trafficking in Persons Report, p. 8. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State. http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/global_issues/human_trafficking/traffick_report.html
  
  
  
• Trafficking in women and girls for forced labor and sexual exploitation grew rapidly between 1995 and 2005, largely as a result of war, displacement, and economic and social inequities between and within countries. ¹⁴
  14. Ellsberg, M. & Heise, L. (2005) Researching Violence Against Women: A Practical Guide for Researchers and Activists, p. 18. Washington, DC: WHO & PATH. http://www.path.org/files/GBV_rvaw_complete.pdf
  
  
  
• Learn more about USAID's work against trafficking.

Gender-Based Violence

• International research consistently finds that women are more likely to be beaten, raped, or killed by a current or former partner than by any other person, with most studies estimating that 20 to 50 percent of women experience partner violence at some point in their lives. ¹⁵
  15. Ellsberg, M. & Heise, L. (2005) Researching Violence Against Women: A Practical Guide for Researchers and Activists, p. 12. Washington, DC: WHO & PATH. http://www.path.org/files/GBV_rvaw_complete.pdf
  
  
  
• Learn more about USAID's work to promote women's legal rights.

Refugees

• Seventy-two percent of the world's 33 million refugees are women and children.¹⁶
  16. UNHCR (2006) UNHCR Statistical Yearbook 2006 (provisional). Geneva: UNHCR. http://www.unhcr.org/statistics.html
  
  
  
• Learn more about USAID's work to address vulnerable populations in times of conflict.

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