This report presents an update on the current situation of pregnancies among girls less than 18 years of age and adolescents 15-19 years of age. The girls most likely to have a live birth before age 18 reside in rural and remote areas, have little or no education, and live in the poorest households. The report also covers trends during the last 10 years and variations across geographic, cultural and economic settings, as well as interventions available to minimise pregnancy among adolescents.
Adolescent pregnancy is reported and analysed here using the percentage of women aged 20 to 24 with a live birth before ages 15 or 18, respectively, and the adolescent birth rate (ABR) among women 15-19 years of age. Data from household surveys are used to produce country, regional and global estimates of adolescent pregnancy, to assess trends over the period from 2000 to 2010, and to generate disparity estimates along the lines of individual and household characteristics.
Key Findings:
- If current trends continue, by 2030, there will be 26 million more adolescent girls in the world. Most of them will live in Asia and the Pacific and sub-Saharan Africa, where they will face significantly higher risks of pregnancy compared to their counterparts in other regions.
- The most recent estimate available indicates that almost one in five women aged 20 to 24 (19 per cent) had a live birth by their 18th birthday. For the before age 18 figure, extreme values are observed in sub-Saharan Africa, at 28 per cent in West and Central Africa, and 25 per cent in Eastern and Southern Africa. Despite some progress towards reducing pregnancies among adolescent girls, the disparity between sub-Saharan Africa, particularly West and Central Africa, and other regions has grown.
- Overall, the adolescent birth rate is higher among adolescents in rural areas, with less education or in poor households, and is lower among adolescents in urban areas, with higher levels of education or in wealthier households.
- The family planning indicators show that compared to other age groups, adolescents consistently remain the most vulnerable group in terms of family planning.
- If current trends do not decline, 78 million girls will give birth during the next decade. From 2021 to 2030, the number of adolescent mothers would be even higher, reaching 86 million by 2030.
- Gender inequality, a lack of protection of girls’ human rights, persistent traditions in favour of early marriage and motherhood, poverty, humanitarian crises and tough economic realities all work to encourage adolescent pregnancy to continue.
Recommendations:
Countries should: i) enact and enforce national legislation that raises the age of marriage to 18 for both girls and boys; ii) use data to identify and target geographic “hotspots”—areas with high proportions and numbers of girls at risk of child marriage and pregnancy before the age of 18; iii) expand prevention programmes that empower girls at risk of early pregnancy and address the root causes underlying the practice; iv) mitigate the harmful impact of early pregnancy on married girls; and v) invest in efforts to improve data on monitoring and evaluation in order to strengthen programmes for girls at risk and married girls.
