Published: December 2, 2024
Monrovia — About 60% of Liberia’s adolescent girls are out of school, trapped in early marriages, or sidelined from economic opportunities, according to a detailed analysis in the World Bank’s report, Pathways to Prosperity for Adolescent Girls in Africa.
According to the report, only 40% of Liberian girls aged 15-19 remain in school, one of the region’s lowest enrollment rates. The situation is even worse for rural girls, many of whom leave school early due to societal pressures such as early marriage and childbearing. Nationally, over 30% of Liberian girls in this age group are married or have children, making them more likely to drop out of school permanently and face limited economic prospects.
This crisis, the report warns, not only jeopardizes the futures of these girls but also stifles Liberia’s national development. “Investing in adolescent girls is not just a moral imperative; it’s an economic necessity,” the report asserts, emphasizing that every dollar spent on programs to empower girls can yield over ten times that in economic returns. For Liberia, empowering adolescent girls could significantly boost GDP growth by 2040.
UNICEF defines child marriage as “any formal marriage or informal union between a child under the age of 18 and an adult or another child” and warns that the effects extend not only to the girl’s health and future prospects but also to the economy through economic detriment on a national level.
In contrast, neighboring Ghana reports much lower rates of early marriage, with only 16% of adolescent girls in this age range married or having children. This success is credited to Ghana’s legal reforms, community outreach programs, and greater emphasis on secondary education for girls.
Niger, however, represents one of the region’s worst cases, where over 70% of girls marry before the age of 18. This high rate is driven by extreme poverty and deeply entrenched cultural norms. Meanwhile, Ethiopia has made significant progress, reducing its child marriage rates from 40% to about 25% among adolescent girls through legal reforms, education-focused policies, and community-led initiatives. Rwanda has similarly reduced its early marriage rate to below 20%, thanks to government-led campaigns promoting education and delaying marriage for economic stability.
Programs such as the Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women initiative have demonstrated measurable success in Liberia. Participants in the program experienced increased savings, higher employment rates, and improved earnings following six months of technical training and another six months of wage-employment support. However, the report notes that scaling such programs is costly, requiring sustained impact over 3 to 12 years to achieve full cost recovery.
The report recommends reducing cost barriers to education, implementing holistic economic and life skills training tailored to labor market needs, and prioritizing the most vulnerable girls. Community engagement, particularly with parents and adolescent boys, is critical to dismantling entrenched norms that limit girls’ opportunities. It also emphasizes the need to strengthen data collection and analysis to design effective policies.
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