Educating and empowering rural Indian girls and women
India Facts
For many years now India has had one of the fastest growing economies in the world. However the country ranks only at 119 on the Human Development Index, published by the United Nations. Fourty six percent of India's children suffer from severe to moderate malnutrition. Off all the world's illiterate people, 35 % live in India. Whilst school is free and compulsory for children aged 6-14, facilities are often inadequate or lacking altogether. If no action is taken, it is estimated that by the year 2020 over 50 % of the illiterate people will live in India.
The following facts underline why Veerni's work in rural Rajasthan is vital.
POPULATION
- India's population is 1.181 billion, representing one sixth of humanity, with one third of the world's poor
- Only 42.2% of married women use a modern method of family planning
- Women hold just 10 % of posts in parliament, well below the global average of 19 %
LIVING CONDITIONS
- 380 million Indians live on less than $1 per day
- 58% of India and 72% of rural India does not have access to piped drinking water
- 64% of India and 69.2% of Rajasthan does not have access to basic sanitation
EDUCATION
- 20% of children aged 6-14 do not attend school
- In rural Rajasthan less than 5% of women are literate
- 35 % of the world's illiterate people live in India
CHILD MARRIAGE
- 29 % of urban girls and 56 % of rural girls are married before they reach 18
- Girls who marry by 15 often have 4 children by their early twenties
HEALTH
- Over 46% of children suffer from malnutrition
- 5.2 million people live with HIV/AIDS
- Nearly 68,000 women die each year of pregnancy related deaths
- 56 % of adolescent girls are anemic
SON PREFERENCE
- Preference for sons and a profound bias against girls has led to one of the world's lowest women to men ratios: 914 women for every 1000 men
- The risk of dying between the ages of 1 and 5 is 43% higher for girls than for boys
- 3 to 5 million female foetuses are aborted each year
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