UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Closing the gender digital divide alone could benefit 343.5 million women and girls worldwide, lift 30 million women out of poverty by 2050, and generate an estimated 1.5 trillion U.S. dollar boost to global GDP by 2030, according to a new report released by UN Women on Monday.

With investments, gender equality is within reach, said the Gender Snapshot 2025 report by UN Women and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Girls are now more likely to complete school than ever before, and maternal mortality declined by nearly 40 percent between 2000 and 2023. Rates of intimate partner violence are 2.5 times lower in countries with comprehensive measures on violence compared to those with weak protections, the report showed.

Women's leadership in climate talks has doubled, and in the past five years, 99 new or reformed laws tore down discrimination, it said.

"Where gender equality has been prioritized, it has propelled societies and economies forward," said Sima Bahous, executive director of UN Women. "Targeted investments in gender equality have the power to transform societies and economies."

At the same time, an unprecedented backlash on women's rights, shrinking civic space, and growing defunding of gender equality initiatives is threatening hard-won gains, according to the report.

If current trends continue, the world will reach 2030 with 351 million women and girls still living in extreme poverty. Conflict is getting deadlier for women and girls, with 676 million women and girls living within reach of deadly conflict today, the highest recorded since the 1990s.

In addition, 64 million more female adults were moderately or severely food insecure than male adults in 2024, the report showed.

"As world leaders gather in New York for UNGA 80, and to commemorate 30 years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on Sept. 22, the Beijing+30 Action Agenda provides a clear path forward towards rights, equality and empowerment for all women and girls," said Bahous.

"Only five years remain to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with targets aimed at making gender equality a reality for all. The Gender Snapshot 2025 shows that the costs of failure are immense but so are the gains from gender equality," said Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

The Gender Snapshot report is the world's leading source of data on gender equality and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Drawing from more than 100 data sources, it tracks progress for women and girls across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 2025 edition showed that with five years left to achieve the SDGs, the world is currently on the trajectory to miss every single indicator under SDG 5, the gender equality goal. ■