Report reveals worst places for girls' education
South Sudan has been named as the world’s wort place for girls to receive an education.
A new list compiled by the One campaign, estimates that more than 130 million girls fail to attend school every day, worldwide.
Nine of the top 10 hardest places for girls to be educated are in sub-Saharan Africa.
Afghanistan, which was ranked highest in gender disparity in primary school, is the only non-African country to make the list, at fourth place.
Some countries – including Somalia and Syria – were not rated due to a lack of data about girls and education rates.
Although school-age boys are held back from school too, the gender gap is striking.
For example, in Central African Republic nearly twice as many girls (38 per cent) are out of school as boys (20 per cent).
Uneducated girls have been shown to have a higher risk of poverty, child marriage, violence and diseases including HIV and AIDS.
The failure to educate or even include girls in education stats is “a global crisis that perpetuates poverty,” according to One campaign president Gayle Smith.
“Over 130 million girls are still out of school – that’s over 130 million potential engineers, entrepreneurs, teachers and politicians whose leadership the world is missing out on,” she said.
“This is not just about getting more girls into school, it’s about the women they grow up to be: educated, empowered and employed.”
The One campaign and YouTube have launched the #GirlsCount project to urge world leaders to prioritise girls’ education.