KABUL, Afghanistan: Restrictions on girls’ education and women’s employment in Afghanistan could leave the country with a deficit of more than 25,000 female teachers and healthcare workers by 2030, the UNICEF warned on Tuesday.
The UN report says the crisis is already depriving children of access to education and healthcare, while also weakening the country’s economy and the essential services that rely on trained female professionals.
A new UNICEF analysis titled The Cost of Inaction on Girls’ Education and Women’s Labour Force Participation in Afghanistan found that female representation in the civil service declined from 21 per cent to 17.7 per cent between 2023 and 2025.
Girls locked out of education
More than one million girls have been denied their right to education since the interim government of the Afghan Taliban banned girls from secondary schooling in September 2021.
If the restriction remains in place until 2030, more than two million girls will have been deprived of education beyond the primary level in a country that already has one of the lowest female literacy rates globally.
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✅ Quality education
✅ Economic resources
✅ Equal opportunities for employment, leadership, and decision-making#ForAllWomenAndGirls pic.twitter.com/K6DxU4lb6G
— UN Women (@UN_Women) April 26, 2026
Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, warned that Afghanistan risks losing an entire generation of essential professionals.
“Afghanistan cannot afford to lose future teachers, nurses, doctors, midwives, and social workers, who sustain essential services. This will be the reality if girls continue to be excluded from education,” she said.
She urged authorities to lift the ban on girls’ secondary education and called on the international community to continue supporting girls’ right to learn.
Essential services at risk
The report highlights a dual crisis — the loss of existing trained female professionals and the absence of a new generation to replace them.
By 2030, Afghanistan could face a shortage of up to 20,000 women teachers and 5,400 healthcare workers, according to the UN report.
The education sector is already under strain. The number of female teachers in basic education dropped by more than nine per cent, from nearly 73,000 in 2022 to about 66,000 in 2024.
This decline threatens student outcomes, particularly for girls, who are more likely to enrol and remain in school when female teachers are present.
The healthcare system is under pressure
The impact is expected to be especially severe in healthcare, where cultural norms often limit women’s access to practitioners.
UNICEF warned that a decline in female health workers would directly reduce access to maternal, newborn, and child healthcare services, increasing risks for women and children.
Restrictions on women’s education and employment are also costing Afghanistan an estimated $84 million annually in lost economic output — a figure expected to rise if current policies continue.
Ongoing support despite challenges
Despite the restrictions, UNICEF continues to support education across Afghanistan. In 2025, more than 3.7 million children in public schools received emergency assistance, while 442,000 children — 66 per cent of them girls — benefited from community-based education programmes.
The agency has also constructed or rehabilitated 232 schools to help sustain access to learning.
“Denying Afghan girls access to secondary education robs an entire nation of its potential — locking girls, their families and their communities into poverty, weakening health outcomes and silencing the economic engine that an educated generation of women could ignite,” Russell said.
