The agency said the crisis is already depriving children of access to learning and healthcare, while also weakening Afghanistan’s economy and essential services that depend on trained female professionals.
New one UNICEF Analysis, The cost of inaction on girls’ education and female labor force participation in AfghanistanFound that there has been a decline in female representation in the civil service From 21 percent to 17.7 percent between 2023 and 2025.
girls locked up
More than one million girls have been denied the right to learn since Taliban authorities banned girls from secondary education in September 2021.
If this continues till 2030, More than twenty lakh girls will be deprived of education beyond primary school in a country that already has one of the lowest female literacy rates in the world.
“Afghanistan cannot afford to lose future teachers, nurses, doctors, midwives and social workersThose who maintain essential services. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said this would be the reality if girls continued to be kept out of education.
“We urge the de facto authorities to lift the ban on secondary education for girls and call on the international community to remain committed to supporting girls’ rights to learn.”
Essential services at risk
The report said Afghanistan is facing double crisis: Losing trained female professionals, preventing the next generation from taking their place.
According to the analysis, the country could lose 20,000 female teachers and 5,400 health workers by 2030.
The education sector is already feeling its impact. The number of women teachers in basic education has declined by more than nine percent.From about 73,000 in 2022 to about 66,000 in 2024.
The decline threatens children’s education, especially for girls, who are more likely to attend and persist in school in the presence of female teachers.
Impact on healthcare
The impact may be particularly severe in health care, where social norms often prevent women from receiving medical services from men.
UNICEF warned that fewer female health workers would directly reduce access to maternal, newborn and child health services, putting women and children at greater risk.
There are also restrictions on the education and work of girls and women. Afghanistan loses $84 million in economic output every yearLosses are expected to increase as women and girls are prevented from classes and jobs.
UNICEF continues to support children’s education across the country. In 2025, more than 3.7 million children in public schools received emergency assistance, while 442,000 children – 66 percent of whom were girls – benefited from community-based learning initiatives.
The agency has also constructed or rehabilitated 232 schools.
“Denying Afghan girls access to secondary education robs an entire country of its potential – locking girls, their families and their communities into poverty, undermining health outcomes and silencing the economic engine that an educated generation of women could ignite,” Ms Russell said.
