UNICEF’s State of the World's Children Focuses on Adolescents

UNICEF reported that investments during the last two decades have resulted in enormous gains for young children under the age of 10, including a 33 per cent drop in the global under-five mortality rate.  Also in most of the world's regions girls are now almost as likely as boys to go to primary school, and millions of children now benefit from improved access to safe water and critical medicines, such as routine vaccinations.

UNICEF warned, however, that there have been fewer gains in other areas. More than seventy million adolescents of lower secondary age are currently out of school, and on a global level girls still lag behind boys in secondary school participation. The report warned that without education, adolescents cannot develop the knowledge and skills they need to navigate the risks of exploitation, abuse and violence during the second decade of life.

http://www.unicef.org/media/media_57728.html