In 2026, fewer girls are attending school globally than two years earlier.

Omissions

• The rise in the out-of-school population is attributed by UNESCO largely to revised UN population projections (a larger school-age cohort) and to the ongoing ban on girls' education in Afghanistan, not to a general decline in the propensity of girls to attend school.
• UNESCO also reports that global primary and secondary enrolment has increased by about 30% since 2000 and that roughly 50 million more girls have been enrolled in school since 2015, so the absolute number of girls in school may not have fallen even as the out-of-school count rises.
• The most recent UNESCO figures available before the session (March 2026 report) describe 2024/2025 data; no data describing 2026 itself existed when the claim was made.
• The 133 million girls out-of-school figure is reported by secondary/tertiary outlets summarising the UNESCO GEM Beijing+30 report rather than by a directly cited primary UNESCO statistical page.

Sources

• PrimaryUNESCO (Progress on girls' access to education: what the new UNESCO data reveals)New UNESCO data reveals that 50 million more girls have been enrolled in school globally since 2015... there are 122 million girls still out-of-school around the world today.
• SecondaryTawazon (reporting UNESCO GEM report)UNESCO says the number of children and adolescents out of school has increased for the seventh consecutive year, reaching 273 million worldwide... the rise is largely driven by population growth, ongoing crises and declining education funding... Girls above grade six have been banned from attending school for a fifth consecutive year.
• SecondaryIndia Today (reporting UNESCO GEM data)A new report by UNESCO's Global Education Monitoring team reveals that over 272 million children worldwide are currently out of school—a sharp increase of more than 21 million from previous estimates. The surge is driven by updated enrollment data, population projections, and factors like the ongoing ban on girls' education in Afghanistan.
• TertiaryAMK Resource World (reporting UNESCO GEM Beijing+30 report)According to the report, 133 million girls worldwide are still out of school, highlighting persistent inequalities... Globally, 91 million more girls are in primary education than three decades ago, and 136 million more are in secondary school.