Ho, July 30, GNA - The gap between boys' and girls' school enrolments have narrowed in the last decade as girls enrolment had risen throughout the developing world.

Girls have an educational advantage in much of Latin America and are roughly at par with boys in Southwest and East Asia, but girls still face disadvantages in parts of South Asia, Western Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

These were contained in The World's Youth 2006 Data Sheet published by Population Reference Bureau based in Washington.

It said in most parts of the developing world, young women today were less likely to marry early compared with their mothers' generation. It however said child marriage, which is contrary to International Convention on Women and Children's Rights, was still widespread. It said surveys in developing countries revealed that less than half of young people could correctly identify at least two ways to avoid getting AIDS and reject common myths about the virus, with young women having less knowledge than young men.

Young women between the ages of 15 and 19 were less likely to use modern contraceptives than women aged between 20 and 24. It however, said the lower use of modern contraceptives reflected the lack of awareness of family planning among women who marry young, societal expectations about having a first child or more limited access to services for adolescents.