Chaaban, JadCunningham, Wendy2012-03-192012-03-192011-08-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3514Although girls are approximately half the youth population in developing countries, they contribute less than their potential to the economy. The objective of this paper is to quantify the opportunity cost of girls' exclusion from productive employment with the hope that stark figures will lead policymakers to reconsider the current underinvestment in girls. The paper explores the linkages between investing in girls and potential increases in national income by examining three widely prevalent aspects of adolescent girls' lives: early school dropout, teenage pregnancy and joblessness. The countries included in the analysis are: Bangladesh, Brazil, Burundi, China, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Paraguay, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. The authors use secondary data to allow for some comparability across countries. They find that investing in girls so that they would complete the next level of education would lead to lifetime earnings of today's cohort of girls that is equivalent to up to 68 percent of annual gross domestic product. When adjusting for ability bias and labor demand elasticities, this figure falls to 54 percent, or 1.5 percent per year. Closing the inactivity rate between girls and boys would increase gross domestic product by up to 5.4 percent, but when accounting for students, male-female wage gaps and labor demand elasticities, the joblessness gap between girls and their male counterparts yields an increase in gross domestic product of up to 1.2 percent in a single year. The cost of adolescent pregnancy as a share of gross domestic could be as high as 30 percent or as low as 1 percent over a girl's lifetime, depending on the assumptions used to calculate the losses.CC BY 3.0 IGOABORTIONACCESS TO HEALTHACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICESADOLESCENCEADOLESCENTADOLESCENT BIRTHSADOLESCENT FERTILITYADOLESCENT GIRLADOLESCENT GIRLSADOLESCENT MOTHERADOLESCENT MOTHERSADOLESCENT PREGNANCIESADOLESCENT PREGNANCYADOLESCENTSADULT WOMENADULTHOODBIRTH RATESCHILD MARRIAGECHILD SURVIVALCHILDBIRTHCOMPLETION RATESCOMPLICATIONSCULTURAL NORMSDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT POLICYDOMESTIC VIOLENCEDROPOUTDROPOUT RATESEARLY CHILDBEARINGEARLY MARRIAGEEARLY MOTHERHOODEARLY PREGNANCIESEARLY PREGNANCYECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC EMPOWERMENTECONOMIC FACTORSECONOMIC GAINSECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC OPPORTUNITYECONOMIC OUTCOMESECONOMIC PRODUCTIVITYEDUCATED GIRLSEDUCATION LEVELSEDUCATION OF GIRLSEDUCATION PROGRAMSEDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTEDUCATIONAL CURRICULAEDUCATIONAL LEVELSEDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIESENROLLMENTENROLLMENT RATESENROLMENT RATESFAMILY INCOMEFEMALE EDUCATIONFEMALE EMPLOYMENTFEMALE POPULATIONFERTILITY RATEFIRST BIRTHFORMAL SCHOOLINGFREQUENT ABSENTEEISMGAP BETWEEN GIRLSGENDERGENDER BASED VIOLENCEGENDER DISPARITIESGENDER EQUALITYGENDER GAPGENDER INEQUALITYGENDER UNITGIRLS AT RISKGIRLS IN SCHOOLGLOBAL DEVELOPMENTGLOBAL HEALTHGROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTHEAD TEACHERSHEALTH RISKSHEALTHIER FAMILIESHIGH COSTSHIVHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN DEVELOPMENTHUMAN POTENTIALHUMAN RIGHTSINFANTINFANT MORTALITYINSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURESINTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON WOMENINTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATIONINTERNSHIPSINTERVENTIONSINVESTMENT IN EDUCATIONJOB TRAININGKIDSLABOR FORCELABOR MARKETLABOR MARKETSLABOR SUPPLYLABOUR DEMANDLABOUR ORGANIZATIONLEARNINGLEAVING SCHOOLLEVEL OF EDUCATIONLEVELS OF EDUCATIONLIFE EXPECTANCYMARITAL STATUSMARKET ECONOMYMATERNAL CAUSESMOTHERNET ENROLLMENTNEWBORNSNUMBER OF ADOLESCENT PREGNANCIESNUMBER OF BIRTHSNUMBER OF GIRLSNUMBER OF WORKERSOFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCEOLD GIRLSPOLICY DISCUSSIONSPOLICY IMPLICATIONSPOLICY MAKERSPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY RESEARCH REPORT ON GENDERPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPERPOPULATION COUNCILPOPULATION DISTRIBUTIONPOPULATION INFORMATIONPOPULATION INFORMATION PROGRAMPOPULOUS COUNTRYPOVERTY REDUCTIONPREGNANCY RATESPRIMARY DROPOUT RATESPRIMARY EDUCATIONPRIMARY SCHOOLPRIMARY SCHOOL DROPOUTSPRIMARY SCHOOL FACILITIESPRIMARY SCHOOL-AGED GIRLSPRIVATE SCHOOLINGPROGRESSPUBLIC HEALTHREGIONAL PATTERNSREPRODUCTIVE HEALTHREPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PERSPECTIVERETURNS TO EDUCATIONRISKY BEHAVIORRISKY SEXUAL BEHAVIORSAFETY NETSSCHOOL ATTENDANCESCHOOL LEAVERSSCHOOLINGSCHOOLSSECONDARY EDUCATIONSECONDARY ENROLMENTSECONDARY LEVELSECONDARY SCHOOLSECONDARY SCHOOL ATTENDANCESELF ESTEEMSEXSEXESSEXUAL HEALTHSEXUAL HEALTH CHOICESSOCIAL DEVELOPMENTSOCIAL FACTORSSOCIAL SCIENCESPOUSESSTATE OF WORLD POPULATIONSYSTEMATIC ANALYSISTEACHINGTEENTEEN GIRLSTEENAGE MOTHERHOODTEENAGE PREGNANCYTERTIARY EDUCATIONTRAINING OPPORTUNITIESUNEMPLOYMENTUNICEFUNINTENDED PREGNANCYUNITED NATIONSUNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUNDWAGE DIFFERENCESWAGE GAPWORKFORCEWORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATIONYOUNG ADULTSYOUNG FEMALESYOUNG GIRLSYOUNG MENYOUNG MOTHERYOUNG MOTHERSYOUNG PEOPLEYOUNG WOMENYOUTHYOUTH DEVELOPMENTWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-5753