Celebrated every year on 11 October, International Day of the Girl is a global moment to celebrate girls everywhere, amplifying their voices, actions and leadership. It belongs to everyone who cares about girls and their rights. On this day, we come together to recognize and advocate for the full spectrum of girls’ rights.
End child marriage and invest in girls’ rights!
This year’s theme was developed through consultations with girls, girls’ organizations and girl-led networks as well as civil society organizations and United Nations partners. Together, they called for urgent action to end child marriage and invest in girls’ rights – our 2026 theme.
Every girl deserves a childhood. Every girl deserves the freedom to learn, to grow, to make her own choices and to define her own future. Yet millions of girls are still denied that freedom.
Each year, more than 12 million girls - roughly one every three seconds - are married before reaching adulthood, with the highest prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa (31 per cent). Child marriage remains one of the most widespread violations of girls’ rights, denying millions of girls the chance to stay in school, protect their health, live free from violence and fulfil their potential. It can have severe and lasting consequences for girls' physical and mental health, increasing risks of social isolation, depression and emotional distress at a time when self-harm remains one of the leading causes of death among adolescent girls aged 15-19 globally.
But this is not inevitable. Thanks to investments in girls’ education, legal reform and social protection, an estimated 68 million child marriages have been averted over the past 25 years, proving that progress is possible when girls are supported and their rights are protected. We have : keeping girls in school; expanding access to health, protection and social services; working with families and communities to challenge harmful norms; investing in girls’ rights and supporting their leadership.
Now we must go further - and faster. It is in our power to ensure that every girl, everywhere, can realize her rights and fulfil her potential. For when girls are safe, educated and empowered, they don’t just transform their own lives, they help build healthier families, stronger communities and more peaceful, prosperous societies.
Stand with girls
This International Day of the Girl, stand with girls.
Raise your voice for girls’ rights. Champion the solutions that help girls stay in school, stay safe and shape their own futures, especially in crisis and humanitarian settings. Challenge the harmful norms that continue to drive child marriage in communities around the world.
Advocate for laws, policies and investments that prevent child marriage and uphold girls' rights. Amplify girls' voices and leadership, ensuring girls are part of the decisions that affect their lives and futures.
Together we can end child marriage and ensure every girl has the freedom to choose her own future - and the opportunity to thrive."I was just a child": Salma survived forced marriage at 15 and is now back in school
"I was just a child and suddenly got married. Before I had time to recover from the shock, I got pregnant.” This was Salma's life at 15. Forced into marriage, she suffered gender-based violence. But her story didn't end there. Watch her inspiring journey: She's now back in school, pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor.
Background
In 1995 at the World Conference on Women in Beijing countries unanimously adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing the rights of not only women but girls. The Beijing Declaration is the first to specifically call out girls’ rights.
On December 19, 2011, United Nations General Assembly adopted to declare October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.
The International Day of the Girl Child focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights.
Adolescent girls have the right to a safe, educated, and healthy life, not only during these critical formative years, but also as they mature into women. If effectively supported during the adolescent years, girls have the potential to change the world – both as the empowered girls of today and as tomorrow’s workers, mothers, entrepreneurs, mentors, household heads, and political leaders. An investment in realising the power of adolescent girls upholds their rights today and promises a more equitable and prosperous future, one in which half of humanity is an equal partner in solving the problems of climate change, political conflict, economic growth, disease prevention, and global sustainability.
Girls are breaking boundaries and barriers posed by stereotypes and exclusion, including those directed at children with disabilities and those living in marginalized communities. As entrepreneurs, innovators and initiators of global movements, girls are creating a world that is relevant for them and future generations.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders in 2015, embody a roadmap for progress that is sustainable and leaves no one behind.
Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is integral to each of the 17 goals. Only by ensuring the rights of women and girls across all the goals will we get to justice and inclusion, economies that work for all, and sustaining our shared environment now and for future generations.
Did you know?
- 133 million girls are out of school today.
- Adolescent girls aged 15-19 are more likely to not be in education, employment or training than their male peers.
- Almost 4 in 10 adolescent girls and young women do not finish upper secondary school.
- Nearly 1 in 4 ever-married or partnered adolescent girls aged 15-19 have experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetimes.
- More than one third of adolescent girls and boys aged 15-19 consider a husband to be justified in hitting his wife under certain circumstances.
- The percentage of underweight adolescent girls aged 10-19 has only declined slightly in the last three decades, from 10 per cent to 8 per cent.
- With only five years remaining of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, no country with data has met even half of 16 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets crucial to adolescent girls’ well-being.
Resources
Key Documents
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Related Observances
- International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation
- International Day of Women and Girls in Science
- International Women's Day
- International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression
- World Day Against Child Labour
- International Day for Women and Girls of African Descent
- International Youth Day
- International Day to Protect Education from Attack
- World Day for the Prevention of and Healing from Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Violence
- World Children’s Day
