Girls spend 40% more time on household chores such as cooking, cleaning, collecting firewood and caring for family members, than boys of the same age, according to a new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The report titled “Harnessing the Power of Data for Girls” indicates that two out of three girls spend most of their daily hours doing household work like cooking, sweeping the compound, collecting firewood and water.

They also do less underestimated activities like caring for babies and elderly people.

The story of BBC states that girls labour increases as they grow up. Girls aged between five and nine years spend 30% of their time on household chores while those aged 14 and above spend over 50%.

Somalia has the highest rate as girls aged between 10 and 14 spend 26 hours weekly doing various household activities.

There is also high labour disparity between girls and boys in Burkina Faso and Yemen.

“The overburden of unpaid household work begins in early childhood and intensifies as girls reach adolescence. Girls are deprived of their precious time for studies and enjoying their childhood. This disparity between boys and girls cause gender imbalance whereby females’ labour double males’,” said UNICEF’s principal gender adviser Anju Malhotra in a press statement.

The report also indicates that girls face higher violence like forced marriage, forced school dropout and genital mutilation.

The report has been released ahead of International Day of the Girl slated on October 11, and includes the first global estimates on the time girls spend on household chores.