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THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN United Nations Children’s Fund 3 United Nations Plaza THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2011 New York, NY 10017, USA Email: [email protected] Website: www.unicef.org 2011 ADOLESCENCE: AN AGE OF OPPORTUNITY Adolescence US $25.00 ISBN: 978-92-806-4555-2 Sales no.: E.11.XX.1 An Age of Opportunity Scan this QR code or go to the © United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) UNICEF publications website February 2011 www.unicef.org/publications Photo Credits Chapter opening photos Chapter 3 – (pages 42–59)* Chapter 1: © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-2036/Sweeting © UNICEF/NYHQ2005-2242/Pirozzi Chapter 2: © UNICEF/BANA2006-01124/Munni © UNICEF/NYHQ2005-1781/Pirozzi Chapter 3: © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-2183/Pires © UNICEF/NYHQ2006-2506/Pirozzi Chapter 4: © UNICEF/MLIA2009-00317/Dicko © UNICEF/NYHQ2006-1440/Bito © UNICEF/AFGA2009-00958/Noorani Chapter 1 – (pages 2–15)* © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-1021/Noorani © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-1811/Markisz © UNICEF/NYHQ2004-0739/Holmes © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-1416/Markisz © UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0260/Noorani Chapter 4 – (pages 62–77)* © UNICEF/NYHQ2007-0359/Thomas © UNICEF/NYHQ2007-1753/Nesbitt © UNICEF/PAKA2008-1423/Pirozzi © UNICEF/NYHQ2004-1027/Pirozzi © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0970/Caleo © UNICEF/NYHQ2008-0573/Dean © UNICEF/MENA00992/Pirozzi © UNICEF/NYHQ2005-1809/Pirozzi © US Fund for UNICEF/Discover the Journey Chapter 2 – (pages 18–39)* © UNICEF/NYHQ2007-2482/Noorani © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-2213/Khemka © UNICEF/NYHQ2006-0725/Brioni © UNICEF/NYHQ2009-2297/Holt © UNICEF México/Beláustegui *Photo credits are not included for Perspectives, Adolescent voices and Technology panels. © United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) United Nations Children’s Fund February 2011 3 United Nations Plaza UNICEF Offices UNICEF The Americas and Caribbean New York, NY 10017, USA Regional Office Permission to reproduce any part of this publication is required. Email: [email protected] UNICEF Headquarters Please contact: Website: www.unicef.org Avenida Morse UNICEF House Division of Communication, UNICEF Ciudad del Saber Clayton 3 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA Cover photo 3 United Nations Plaza Edificio #102 Tel: (+1-212) 326-7434 © UNICEF/NYHQ2006-1326/Versiani New York, NY 10017, USA Apartado 0843-03045 Email: [email protected] Panama City, Panama UNICEF Regional Office for Europe Permission will be freely granted to educational or Palais des Nations UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific non-profit organizations. Others will be requested CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland Regional Office to pay a small fee. P.O. Box 2-154 UNICEF Central and Eastern Europe/ 19 Phra Atit Road Commentaries represent the personal views Commonwealth of Independent Bangkok 10200, Thailand of the authors and do not necessarily reflect States Regional Office positions of the United Nations Children’s Fund. Palais des Nations UNICEF Middle East and North Africa CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland Regional Office The essays presented here are a selection of those P.O. Box 1551 received in mid-2010; the full series is available on UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Amman 11821, Jordan the UNICEF website at <www.unicef.org/sowc2011> Regional Office P.O. Box 44145 For any corrigenda found subsequent to printing, please visit UNICEF South Asia Regional Office Nairobi 00100, Kenya our website at <www.unicef.org/publications> P.O. Box 5815 Lekhnath Marg UNICEF West and Central Africa For any data updates subsequent to printing, please visit Kathmandu, Nepal <www.childinfo.org> Regional Office P.O. Box 29720 Yoff Further information is available at ISBN: 978-92-806-4555-2 Dakar, Senegal our website <www.unicef.org>. Sales no.: E.11.XX.1 THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2011 Acknowledgements This report was produced with the invaluable guidance and contributions of many individuals, both inside and outside of UNICEF. Important contributions for country panels were received from the following UNICEF field offices: Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Jordan, Mexico, Philippines, Ukraine and the US Fund for UNICEF. Input was also received from UNICEF regional offices and the World Health Organization’s Adolescent Health and Development Team. Special thanks also to UNICEF’s Adolescent Development and Participation Unit for their contributions, guidance and support. And thanks to adolescents from around the world who contributed quotations and other submissions for the print report and the website. The State of the World’s Children 2011 invited adult and adolescent contributors from a variety of stakeholder groups to give their perspectives on the distinct challenges adolescents face today in protection, education, health and participation. Our gratitude is extended to the contributors presented in this report: His Excellency Mr. Anote Tong, President of the Republic of Kiribati; Her Royal Highness Princess Mathilde of Belgium; Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned; Emmanuel Adebayor; Saeda Almatari; Regynnah Awino; Meenakshi Dunga; Lara Dutta; Maria Eitel; Brenda Garcia; Urs Gasser; Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda; Colin Maclay; Cian McLeod; Paolo Najera; John Palfrey; Aown Shahzad; and Maria Sharapova. These essays represent a selection of the full series of Perspectives available at <www.unicef.org/sowc2011>. Special thanks also to Ayman Abulaban; Gloria Adutwum; Rita Azar; Gerrit Beger; Tina Bille; Soha Bsat Boustani; Marissa Buckanoff; Abubakar Dungus; Abdel Rahman Ghandour; Omar Gharzeddine; Shazia Hassan; Carmen Higa; Donna Hoerder; Aristide Horugavye; Oksana Leshchenko; Isabelle Marneffe; Francesca Montini; Jussi Ojutkangas; and Arturo Romboli for their assistance with the Perspectives essay series and Technology panels. Special thanks also to Meena Cabral de Mello of WHO’s Adolescent Health and Development Team for her assistance with the panel on adolescent mental health. EDITORIAL AND RESEARCH STATISTICAL TABLES David Anthony, Editor; Chris Brazier, Principal Writer; Tessa Wardlaw, Associate Director, Statistics and Marilia Di Noia; Hirut Gebre-Egziabher; Anna Grojec; Monitoring Section, Division of Policy and Practice; Carol Holmes; Tina Johnson; Robert Lehrman; Céline Priscilla Akwara; David Brown; Danielle Burke; Little; Charlotte Maitre; Meedan Mekonnen; Kristin Xiaodong Cai; Claudia Cappa; Liliana Carvajal; Moehlmann; Baishalee Nayak; Arati Rao; Anne Archana Dwivedi; Anne Genereaux; Rouslan Karimov; Santiago; Shobana Shankar; Julia Szczuka; Jordan Rolf Luyendijk; Nyein Nyein Lwin; Colleen Murray; Tamagni; Judith Yemane Holly Newby; Elizabeth Hom-Phathanothai; Khin Wityee Oo; Danzhen You PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION PROGRAMME, AND POLICY AND Jaclyn Tierney, Production Officer; Edward Ying, Jr.; Germain Ake; Fanuel Endalew; Eki Kairupan; Farid COMMUNICATION GUIDANCE Rashid; Elias Salem UNICEF Programme Division, Division of Policy and Practice, Division of Communication, and Innocenti TRANSLATION Research Centre, with particular thanks to Saad Houry, French edition: Marc Chalamet Deputy Executive Director; Hilde Frafjord Johnson, Spanish edition: Carlos Perellón Deputy Executive Director; Nicholas Alipui, Director, Programme Division; Richard Morgan, Director, Division MEDIA AND OUTREACH of Policy and Practice; Khaled Mansour, Director, Christopher de Bono; Kathryn Donovan; Erica Falkenstein; Division of Communication; Maniza Zaman, Deputy Janine Kandel; Céline Little; Lorna O’Hanlon Director, Programme Division; Dan Rohrmann, Deputy Director, Programme Division; Susan Bissell, Associate INTERNET BROADCAST AND IMAGE SECTION Director, Programme Division; Rina Gill, Associate Director, Division of Policy and Practice; Wivina Stephen Cassidy; Matthew Cortellesi; Keith Musselman; Belmonte, Deputy Director, Division of Communication; Ellen Tolmie; Tanya Turkovich Catherine Langevin-Falcon; Naseem Awl; Paula Claycomb; Beatrice Duncan; Vidar Ekehaug; Maria DESIGN AND PRE-PRESS PRODUCTION Cristina Gallegos; Victor Karunan; and Mima Perisic. Prographics, Inc. PRINTING Hatteras Press ii THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2011 Foreword Last year, a young woman electrified a United Nations cause of death for teenage girls; the pressures that keep consultation on climate change in Bonn, simply by asking 70 million adolescents out of school; exploitation, violent the delegates, “How old will you be in 2050?” conflict and the worst kind of abuse at the hands of adults. The audience applauded. The next day, hundreds of It also examines the dangers posed by emerging trends delegates wore T-shirts emblazoned with that question – like climate change, whose intensifying effects in many including the Chair, who admitted that in 2050 he would developing countries already undermine so many adoles- be 110, and not likely to see the results of our failure to cents’ well-being, and by labour trends, which reveal a act. The young woman’s message was clear: The kind of profound lack of employment opportunities for young world she will live in someday relies both on those who people, especially those in poor countries. inherit it and on those who bequeath it to them. Adolescence is not only a time of vulnerability, it is also an The State of the World’s Children 2011 echoes and builds on age of opportunity. This is especially true when it comes to this fundamental insight. Today, 1.2 billion adolescents stand adolescent girls. We know that the more education a girl at the challenging crossroads between childhood and the adult receives, the more likely she is to postpone marriage and world. Nine out of ten of these young people live in the de- motherhood – and the more likely