BENGALURU: Bengaluru is one of the best cities for teenage girls in the country, according to a survey done by Project Nanhi Kali, Naandi Foundation and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. Titled The Teenage Girls (TAG) Report 2018, it shows Kerala and Mizoram as the top two states, while the top three cities are Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru.
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Investing in education, health, and job opportunities for young women has a positive impact on the economy and society. There are 80 million teenage girls in India today. However, there is a critical data gap about how girls are doing, whether they feel safe, and access to education, clean water and sanitation.
Around 1,000 surveyors met 74,000 teenage girls across 600 districts in all 30 states of India for the survey. It involved the measurement of their height, weight and haemoglobin levels.
EDUCATION AND MARITAL PREFERENCES
The survey found that 81% of teenage girls are studying. Of them Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana and West Bengal scored the highest, with 100% of the respondents saying they have not given up their education. Nearly 78% of rural girls are currently studying compared to 87% of urban girls. A total of 96% of teenage girls are unmarried.
HEALTH & WELL-BEING
The survey found that 40% still have to defecate in the open and 46% use unhygienic materials during menstruation. Only 46.3% of rural girls have access to hygienic menstrual protection methods. One in every two teenage girls is anaemic. Normal levels of haemoglobin are the same in both urban (51.5%) and rural (46.8%) girls. One in every two teenage girls has low Body Mass Index (BMI).