The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has issued a warning that Afghanistan could lose up to 20,000 women teachers and 5,400 healthcare workers by 2030 due to ongoing restrictions on girls’ education and women’s employment.
In its recent analysis titled “The Cost of Inaction on Girls’ Education and Women’s Labour Force Participation in Afghanistan,” UNICEF highlights that the number of women working in civil services has dropped from 21% to 17.7% between 2023 and 2025. This decline is concerning as it leads to fewer trained female professionals available for schools and hospitals, which will have serious effects on children’s education, health outcomes, and future opportunities.
UNICEF points out that Afghanistan is facing a double crisis: the loss of skilled female workers and the inability of younger generations to replace them. Since the Afghan Taliban banned girls from attending secondary school in September 2021, over one million girls have been denied their right to an education in a country where female literacy rates are already very low.
The analysis shows that if this ban continues until 2030, more than two million girls will be deprived of the chance to study beyond primary school. Additionally, schools are already being affected, with the number of female teachers in basic education dropping by over 9%—from nearly 73,000 in 2022 to around 66,000 in 2024.