Girl Up Highlights the Importance of Counting Girls as World Population Grows to 7 Billion

With the seventh billion child expected to be born this month, Girl Up is drawing attention to the need to count, advocate for and invest in girls worldwide. Investing in a girl today means in the future she will have the tools to reinvest back into her family and community, which helps build a better world for all of us.

Today’s youth generation is the largest in history with more than 1.2 billion adolescents ages 10 to 19, half of whom are girls. As such a sizeable segment of the population, adolescent girls represent the world’s greatest source of untapped potential. Research shows that less than two cents of every development dollar goes toward adolescent girls, and according to the Population Council, in some cases 80-90% of youth program participants are boys.

“With a growing population of adolescent girls among the world’s 7 billion people, it is more important than ever that we ensure all girls are provided with the tools, information and resources they need to bring about change,” said Gina Reiss-Wilchins, Director of Girl Up. “Counting girls in order to properly steer national and development resources can help prevent child marriage, afford girls access to education, provide them with health services and prepare them to be the next generation of future leaders.”

Adolescent girls have tremendous potential, and we know the keys to unlocking that potential are access to quality education, health information and services, social and economic skills training, and violence prevention and protection services. Yet, because research rarely measures adolescent girls as a segment, they become invisible and our ability to meet their needs is jeopardized.

You can help make girls count by going to GirlUp.org.

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About Girl Up
Girl Up, a campaign of the United Nations Foundation, gives American girls the opportunity to channel their energy and compassion to raise awareness and funds for programs of the United Nations that help some of the world’s hardest-to-reach adolescent girls. Through Girl Up’s support, girls have the opportunity to become educated, healthy, safe, counted and positioned to be the next generation of leaders. Campaign supporters are encouraged to give a “High Five” to girls in developing countries by donating $5 or more to provide girls with such basic needs as access to school supplies, clean water, life-saving health services, safety from violence and more. Founding campaign partners include MTV Networks, National Coalition of Girls’ Schools, Women’s National Basketball Association, Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry, Girls Inc., and 10×10. Go to GirlUp.org to learn more.

About the United Nations Foundation 
The United Nations Foundation, a public charity, was created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities. We build and implement public/private partnerships to address the world’s most pressing problems, and work to broaden support for the UN through advocacy and public outreach. Through our campaigns and partnerships, we connect people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems. These campaigns focus on reducing child mortality, empowering women and girls, creating a new energy future, securing peace and human rights, and promoting technology innovation to improve health outcomes. These solutions are helping the UN advance the eight global targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For more information, visit www.unfoundation.org.