Pakistani child education activist Malala Yousafzi and Indian child rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi have jointly been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Seventeen-year-old Yousafzi, who is the youngest ever recipient of the award, gained international recognition after surviving being shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in October 2012 for campaigning for girls’ education. She now campaigns for young girls’ education around the world from her new home in Birmingham, UK.

Satyarthi, 60, founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan (“Save the Childhood Movement”) in India and has lead various peaceful protests against the “grave exploitation of children for financial gain”.

The Nobel committee praised the pair for their “struggle against the suppression of children and young people”.

The choice of Yousafzi and Satyarthi will be seen as an uncontroversial choice for the prize, which in previous years has gone Barack Obama (2009), Chinese dissident and human rights campaigner Liu Xiaobo (2010), and the European Union (2012).

The pair will now be invited to an award ceremony in Oslo to receive a Nobel medal and $1.4 million (£860,000) in prize money.