Today Lena becomes a teenager. The world around her is full of possibilities. But also risks. See what opportunities and risks Lena and other girls and young women are facing in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and how UNFPA is assisting the countries in the region to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.

A country with both increasing numbers of young people and declining fertility has the potential to reap a ‘demographic dividend’ – a boost in economic productivity that occurs when there are growing numbers of people in the workforce relative to the number of dependents.

Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, reports on UNFPA’s support to women and girls freed from insurgent group Boko Haram.

In Guatemala, it's legal for a girl to marry as young as 14 — though many are married far younger than that. The result: Many girls marry men far older than themselves and become mothers long before they are physically and emotionally ready. Communicating the individual experiences of these child brides across cultural and language barriers became my passion, and, ultimately, my life's work. This project in Guatemala was done in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund. The film below was co-directed by Katie Orlinsky.