#PovertyIsSexist. Don’t believe us? Here are 10 statistics taken from this year’s report to show you how incredibly difficult it is to be a woman living in some of the poorest parts of the world:
1. Girls account for 74% of all new HIV infections among adolescents in Africa.
2. At current rates of progress, women in sub-Saharan Africa will have to wait more than 160 years before they have the same chances as women in rich countries of their babies being born alive.
3. In sub-Saharan Africa, women and girls spend 40 billion hours a year collecting water—the equivalent of a year’s worth of labor by the entire workforce in France.
4. Of all maternal deaths, 99 percent occur in developing countries.
5. In many sub-Saharan African countries, more than half of young women report not having a final say in critical healthcare choices.
6. Globally, 120 million girls are raped or sexually attacked by the age of 20.
7. In sub-Saharan Africa, 45 percent fewer women than men have access to the Internet.
8. If an additional 600 million women and girls gained access to the Internet in the next three years, GDP across 144 developing countries could be boosted by up to $13-18 billion!
9. Of all stillbirths that happen in the world, 98 percent happen in low- and middle-income countries.
10. Half a billion women couldn’t read this list.