Ensuring that everyone has the power to make their own decisions about their body, health and future is fundamental to achieving gender equality. An important key to fully realizing this vision: nuanced, human rights-based data that capture the many dimensions of empowerment and agency.

The world is facing a crisis of reproductive agency, the UNFPA State of World Population 2025 report shows. In every country studied, regardless of its total fertility rate, the most consequential reproductive decision a person can make – whether, when and with whom to have a child – is being undermined, and in some cases outright denied. But traditional metrics do not fully capture the complex ecosystem constraining or enabling agency. To address this gap and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, UNFPA has established the Technical Advisory Group on Measuring Sexual and Reproductive Agency. 

The mission

The advisory group is mandated to develop a robust, comprehensive and globally relevant framework for measuring sexual and reproductive agency. This work is focused on three key pillars:

• Developing new methodologies: Refining the definition of sexual and reproductive agency and creating inclusive measurement tools and indicators that reflect the needs of diverse populations, including adolescents, youth and LGBTQIA+ individuals.
• Strengthening data and analysis: Working to enhance global capacity for data collection and analysis to support the development of evidence-based programmes and policies.
• Influencing global policy: Fostering expert collaboration and sharing research to influence the post-2030 global agenda and increase the understanding and prioritization of sexual and reproductive agency.

The members

Chaired by UNFPA, the advisory group is a consortium of 35 world-leading experts from academia, civil society and multilateral agencies, all committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The strategic plan

The group is actively developing a comprehensive conceptual framework and a core set of indicators for pilot testing. 

This work and the resultant tools and evidence will provide partners with the critical means to better track progress, target investments, measure the true impact of programming and make a more powerful, evidence-based case for sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender equality, at both the country level and on the global stage.

Updated 11 December 2025