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SHARING KNOWLEDGE127© ReutersGirls and young women who areeducated have greater awareness of theirrights, and greater confidence and freedomto make decisions that affect their lives,including when to marry and when to havechildren. Child marriage and early birthsare particularly prevalent in sub-SaharanAfrica and South and West Asia. In thesetwo regions, one in eight girls is marriedby the age of 15 and one in seven givesbirth by the age of 17. If all girls in thesetwo regions reached secondary school,more than a million would be saved fromchild marriage, and almost 1.4 millionwould avoid getting pregnant while theythemselves are still children.Tackling environmental degradationand climate change are likely to featureTajik secondary school graduates inDushanbe celebrate the end of their schooldays, traditionally called the ‘last bell’more prominently in the post-2015 goals.The link between these and education iscurrently difficult to disentangle, largely dueto insufficient data on relevant issues. Theevidence that does exist shows that peopleGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014