⁍ Every $1 spent on girls’ rights and education would generate a $2.80 return.

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⁍ Some 130 million girls worldwide were already out of school before COVID-19.

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⁍ Many families choose to invest in sons over daughters.

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– A new study finds that making sure all girls finish secondary school by 2030 could boost the GDP of developing countries by 10% on average over the next decade. Every $1 spent on girls’ rights and education would generate a $2.80 return—equivalent to billions of dollars in extra GDP, according to the study by rights group Plan International and financial services firm Citi’s Global Insights team. “When girls are shut out of these opportunities, it means a generation of women are also negatively impacted,” a lawyer for women’s rights group Equality Now tells the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The study looked at eight developing and emerging-market nations, including India, Egypt, Uganda, Bolivia, and Laos. Some 130 million girls worldwide were already out of school before COVID-19, according to the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO, which said more than 11 million may not return to classes after the pandemic. Girls are more likely than boys to miss out on school, UNICEF says. Many families choose to invest in sons over daughters, while violence, poverty, and child marriage also impact their access to education. The new report, which was based on a study of eight developing and emerging-market nations, called for a ‘holistic’ approach with measures spanning education, health, and violence-prevention. Some low-income countries could struggle to ensure that all girls are completing their schooling within the next decade, the report said. But it noted that the target is included in a set of ambitious development goals signed by world leaders in 2015.