KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Afghanistan could lose over 25,000 female teachers and health workers by 2030 if the Taliban’s restrictions on girls’ education and women’s employment remain in place, UNICEF said in a new report released Tuesday.
In its report titled “The Costs of Inaction on Girls’ Education and Women’s Labour Force Participation in Afghanistan,” UNICEF said up to 20,000 female teachers and 5,400 female health workers are projected to leave the workforce by the end of the decade, with further declines expected beyond 2030.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on the basic rights of women and girls, including a ban on education beyond grade six, limits on most forms of employment, and restrictions on movement, such as travelling long distances without a male guardian. Women’s access to public spaces, including parks, gyms, and bathhouses, has also been restricted.
UNICEF said at least 1 million girls have already been deprived of education under the measures, and warned the figure could rise to 2 million by 2030 if policies remain unchanged. It said the restrictions are creating a growing gap in the pipeline of future female teachers and healthcare workers.
The projected loss of female personnel would represent about a quarter of Afghanistan’s 2021 workforce in those sectors, the report said. It added that the number of female health workers lost could rise further to 9,600 by 2035, compounding pressure on an already strained health system.
The report underlined that female teachers and health workers play a critical role in Afghanistan due to deeply rooted cultural norms. Girls are far more likely to attend school when taught by female teachers, particularly in gender-segregated classrooms, while many women and girls can only access healthcare from female providers.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell highlighted the long-term consequences of the restrictions.
“Afghanistan cannot afford to lose future teachers, nurses, doctors, midwives, and social workers, who sustain essential services,” Russell said. “This will be the reality if girls continue to be excluded from education.”
The report estimated that the workforce losses could cost Afghanistan’s economy at least $84 million annually, equivalent to about 0.5% of the country’s gross domestic product, with the economic impact set to grow as fewer educated women enter the labour market.
UNICEF described Afghanistan as facing a dual crisis: the gradual attrition of current experienced female professionals through retirement or resignation, coupled with the systematic blocking of a new generation from acquiring the necessary education and skills to replace them. Each year of delay, the agency said, increases the risk of irreversible damage to the country’s public services and human capital development.
Despite the bans, UNICEF said it continues to support Afghan children’s education, reaching more than 3.7 million children in public schools in 2025 through community-based education programs and direct assistance to teachers.
The agency called on Taliban authorities to lift bans on girls’ secondary and higher education and women’s employment, and urged continued international support for girls’ access to education
Rights groups, UN experts, and activists say the Taliban’s restrictions on the basic rights of women and girls amount to “gender apartheid,” accusing the group of systematically excluding women and girls from public life. Despite international pressure, including appeals from some Muslim-majority countries, the Taliban have not reversed the measures, leaving millions of Afghan women and girls facing an uncertain future.
