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There are at least five arguments why investing in adolescent health and well-being is crucial: 

1. Adolescents have a fundamental right to health, and yet they bear a substantial proportion of the global disease and injury burden. Every day, over 2,400 adolescents die from largely preventable causes. 

2. Investments in adolescent health and well-being bring a triple dividend of benefits, by:  

  • ensuring the well-being of today’s adolescents,  
  • enhancing their future prospects and  
  • improving outcomes for generations to come, by passing knowledge and health capital on to their own children.   

3. Investments in adolescent health and well-being bring substantial economic benefits and enhance human and social capital.  

See the Adolescent Well-being Investment Case interim summary that synthesizes current knowledge on the case for investing in adolescent well-being (e.g. the economic case, human rights imperative, the demographic and epidemiological transition) and revises, updates and expands previous models of the returns on investment in adolescent well-being (e.g. health, nutrition, education, road traffic injury, child marriage, etc.) as well as presents the costs of insufficient action.

Read the Adolescent Well-being Investment Case - Interim summary

4. Adolescents are not simply old children or young adults; they have particular needs. 

5. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development cannot be achieved without investment in adolescent health and well-being. 

SDG targets that specifically address adolescents

  • Reduce by at least half the proportion of children living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions (Target 1.2).
  • Address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls (Target 2.2).
  • Ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes (Target 4.1). 
  • Substantially increase the number of youths who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship (Target 4.4).
  • Eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for children in vulnerable situations (Target 4.5).
  • Ensure that all youth achieve literacy and numeracy (Target 4.6).
  • Build and upgrade education facilities that are child-sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all (Target 4.a).
  • End all forms of discrimination against all girls everywhere (Target 5.1).
  • Eliminate all forms of violence against all girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation (Target 5.2). 
  • Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation (Target 5.3). 
  • Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of girls at all levels (Target 5.c). 
  • Achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of girls (Target 6.2).
  • Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all young people and equal pay for work of equal value (Target 8.5).
  • By 2020 substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training (Target 8.6).
  • Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms
    (Target 8.7).
  • By 2020 develop and operationalize a global strategy for youth employment and implement the Global Jobs Pact of the International Labour Organization (Target 8.b).
  • Provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of children (Target 11.2).
  • Provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible green and public spaces, in particular for children (Target 11.7).
  • Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least-developed countries and small island developing states, including focusing on youth (Target 13.b).
  • End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children (Target 16.2)