A new study shows that investments in adolescent health and wellbeing are some of the best that can be made towards achieving the SDGs.

Improving the physical, mental and sexual health of adolescents aged 10-19 years, at the cost of US$4.6 per person per year, could bring a 10-fold economic benefit by averting 12 million adolescent deaths and preventing more than 30 million unwanted pregnancies in adolescents.

Similarly, investing to increase the extent and quality of secondary education, at a cost of US$22.6 per person per year, would generate economic benefits about 12 times higher and result in an additional 12 million formal jobs for people aged 20–24 years.

The findings are published in The Lancet on the eve of the World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington D.C. where finance and development leaders from 188 countries will discuss the critical need for investment in adolescents. Programmes to reduce child marriage, at US$3.8 per person, had a 5.7-fold return on investment and could cut child marriage by around a third.