Today is the first ever United Nations International Day of the Girl.

This day means a lot to us at 60 million girls.  Here are some reasons why:

• Every 2 minutes, 52 adolescent girls will give birth, 90 percent of whom were child brides, and four of whom will die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. [from Maria Eitel’s piece in today’s Huffington Post]
• Girls will reinvest 90 percent of their earnings back into their family compared to the 30 to 40 percent that boys and men do, and higher education among girls is correlated with both later and fewer children. [from Nicole Tosh’s piece in today’s Huffington Post]
• Approximately every 2 minutes, around 70 girls below 18 years old will have been forced into marriage, often with dire consequences. Every three seconds, a girl under the age of 18 is married off. That’s 10 million girls every year who are married to older men often before they are mentally or sexually ready. [from Christy Turlington Burns’ piece in today’s Huffington Post]
• Girls who are married young normally don’t have the opportunity to go to school. Worldwide, only 30% of girls are enrolled in secondary school.

Today, why not take a few minutes to read up on the sustainable impact that educating girls makes in the world?