Failure to offer girls the same educational opportunities as boys costs developing countries almost $100 billion each year in lost economic growth, according to research by Plan, the leading children's NGO.

Paying the Price: The economic cost of failing to educate girls reveals that gender gaps in secondary school achievement in 65 developing and former Eastern Bloc countries cause them to miss out on annual growth of US $92 billion. This is only slightly less than the total US $103bn spent annually by the industrialised nations on overseas development aid.

Countries in South Asia and West Africa have the worst record on educating girls to secondary level. India alone misses out on potential economic growth worth around $33bn each year. Twenty-six countries in sub-Saharan Africa fail to educate girls to the same standard as boys. By contrast, just two countries in Latin America, fail to do so.

Tom Miller, Plan chief executive officer, said: "Education is a real investment which reaps real rewards not just for the individual child but for society as a whole. Failure to educate girls to the same standard as their brothers has been rightly criticised as unjust and damaging to girls. Our analysis reveals for the first time the heavy economic cost of this failure to developing countries. It is a missed opportunity they can ill-afford."

The startling figures are the result of an analysis of UN and World Bank statistics by Plan. A recent World Bank study found that failure to provide girls with secondary education reduces economic growth by an average of 0.3 percentage points for every one per cent of girls out of school. Plan's findings are based on this research.

Yemen has the largest gap between the proportion of girls and boys who succeed at secondary school (30 percentage points).

Plan is committed to promoting the rights of all children in the developing world, including their right to a high quality education. Last year, Plan built and repaired 7,500 schools, provided training for 80,000 teachers and worked with thousands of communities to promote girls' education.

Note to editors: Tom Miller is available for interview by the broadcast and print media. Please contact Gary Walker, contact details below. Photographs and video b-roll of girls at school are available on request.

Paying the Price: The economic cost of failing to educate girls is available from http://plan-international.org/education

Plan works with more than 3.5 million families each year in 49 countries throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Contact: Gary Walker, Director of Communications Mobile: +44 (0) 7920586467 Email: gary.walker@plan-international.org Web: www.plan-international.org/news/journalists/