A/HRC/7/27 page 5 6. One consequence of the limited progress in ensuring reliable access to safe drinking water, food, health care, education and sanitation is that Afghanistan continues to suffer from high mortality rates across all segments of the population. The average life expectancy in Afghanistan is 43.3 years for women and 43.4 years for men. 7. Despite some progress, the AIHRC found that provision of and access to adequate health care, particularly for women and children, remains a serious concern. Afghanistan’s under-five and maternal mortality rates are amongst the highest in the world at 257 per 1,000 live births and 1,600 deaths per 100,000 live births, respectively. The maternal mortality rate stems from insufficient awareness and access to prenatal care (14.3 per cent receive such care) and to skilled attendants during childbirth (12 per cent receive this care). While immunization programmes have increased recently, one third of children do not receive vaccinations against tuberculosis. At the same time, although its child mortality rate is the third highest globally, Afghanistan has managed to reduce its child mortality rate by 25 per cent since 2001. This reduction illustrates the positive effects in some sectors of concentrated efforts at the local level to realize social rights. 8. Health is also affected by access to sanitation, safe drinking water, food, and education. AHDR reports that the Government remains unable to ensure reliable and equal access to these, particularly to safe drinking water. Urban households (64 per cent) are about three times more likely to enjoy safe drinking water than rural households (26 per cent). Only 2.6 million Afghans have access to safe sanitation. 9. Government has improved children’s access to formal education. Ministry of Education statistics for the second half of 2007 show more than 5.6 million children enrolled in schools, compared to a little more than 1 million five years ago. More than 35 per cent of these students are girls. Despite this progress, half of Afghan children - predominantly girls - still do not attend school and Afghanistan continues to suffer from a 72 per cent adult illiteracy rate, with the lowest female literacy rate in the world, estimated at between 10-19 per cent. Low school attendance and high dropout rate of girls can be attributed largely to traditional perceptions, poverty, lack of facilities and transportation in remote areas, and security concerns. Early marriage also tends to deprive girls of the opportunity to receive secondary education. Poverty also means that children drop out to work, often in dangerous, exploitative or hazardous conditions. 10. Afghanistan, the fifth poorest country in the world according to ADHR, continues to struggle to tackle poverty. AIHRC reported that 60.3 per cent of interviewees earned less than one United States dollar per day - the World Bank’s benchmark for “absolute poverty”. Economic vulnerability and widespread poverty most severely impact upon women, children, the disabled, elderly, and the landless, and are significant factors in the deterioration of the security situation throughout the country. It also generates economic migrants, as evidenced most visibly in the deportation by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2007 of more than 360,000 such persons back to Afghanistan. 11. The Afghan economy remains dependent on international aid and is held back in part by the inability of the Government to protect property rights. AIHRC reports illicit land seizures, particularly in rural areas, among the most prevalent human rights violations. According to UNAMA, difficulties in resolving disputes over land persist because of lack of coherent legal