The State of World Population 2013 Report

‘ 20k teen births reported in developing world every day ’

    Over 7.3 million girls every year, or about 20,000 every day, below the age of 18 give birth in developing countries. 

9/10 of these births occur within marriage or a union. India is home to almost a third of the 36 million plus women in developing countries between 20 and 24 years of age who reported having had a birth before turning 18. South Asia accounts for 17.4 million.

    These sobering figures emerge from the The State of World Population 2013 report titled “Motherhood in childhood: facing the challenge of adolescent pregnancy”, released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

    The report stated that nearly 200 adolescent girls die every day from early pregnancy. It added that very young adolescents in low- and middle-income countries run double the risk of maternal death compared to older women, including older teens. It is estimated that 3.2 million unsafe abortions happen among adolescents each year.

    Adolescent birth rates are highest where child marriage is most prevalent, and child marriages are more frequent where poverty is extreme. “While child marriages are declining among girls under 15, over 50 million girls could still be at risk of being married before 15 in this decade. In Bangladesh, Chad and Niger, more than one in three girls is married before her 15th birthday,” said the report.

    The good news is that data gathered in 54 countries through two separate surveys — one conducted between 1990 and 2008 and the other between 1997 and 2011 — showed a slight decline in the percentage of women in the 20-24 age group who reported a birth before age 18, from 23% to about 20%. The six countries that saw increases in adolescent pregnancies were in sub-Saharan Africa.

    There is also a marginal decline in the percentage of women reporting having a baby before 14 years, from 4% to 3%. However,one girl in 10 has a child before the age of 15 in Bangladesh, Chad, Guinea, Mali, Mozambique and Niger, countries where child marriage is common. Latin America and the Caribbean is the only region where births to girls under age 15 rose.

    Adolescents comprise 18% of the world’s population, or an estimated 1.2 billion — the largest adolescent cohort in human history, about 88% of them in developing countries. About half (49%) of adolescent girls live in just six countries: China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan and the US.

    Adolescent pregnancies are as much a concern in high and middle income countries. According to the World Bank, the lifetime opportunity cost related to adolescent pregnancy — measured by the mother’s foregone annual income over her lifetime — ranges from 1% of annual GDP in the US to 30% in Uganda.

    Brazil would add more than $3.5 billion to its GDP if teenage girls delayed pregnancy until their early 20s, while India’s would be $7.7 billion higher. This computes only the economic cost through lost productivity in the labour market. It does not take into account costs incurred to women’s health, possible implications for the child’s future productivity and so on.

    “Too often, society blames only the girl for getting pregnant,” said UNFPA executive director, Babatunde Osotimehin. “The reality is that adolescent pregnancy is often not the result of a deliberate choice, but rather the absence of choices, and of circumstances beyond a girl’s control. It is a consequence of little or no access to school, employment, quality information & healthcare.”