Some 1.2 billion people--one person in five--are between ages 10 and 19, the largest number of adolescents in history. Half of them are poor; one in four live in extreme poverty, on less than $1 a day. This year's State of the World Population report examines their condition, in the context of changing social norms and lifestyles, including weakening of family support systems, amid globalization and urbanization. The report provides country-specific examples of projects that combine life skills education, including sexuality education, and peer counselling with access to services and points out the high costs and social consequences of failing to adequately meet adolescents' reproductive health and rights.
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Publications
Elevating Rights and Choices for All: Guidance Note for Applying a Human Rights Based Approach to Programming provides a road map for institutionalizing a human rights-based approach in the work of UNFPA, guided by the principles of: equality and non-discrimination, quality...
10 December 2020
News
Karen, a 14-year-old teenager, lives with her family in a slum on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. She is afraid to return home after school because she is afraid of her uncle, who has tried to sexually assault her. This is storyline on the Honduran TV miniseries Es Cosa...
4 November 2020
Resources
How is menstruation related to human rights? When does menstruation start? What are common myths and taboos about menstruation? What is period poverty?
28 May 2020