Europe 1 with AFP 7:18 p.m., July 05, 2022
According to a study published Tuesday by the United Nations Population Fund, which specializes in sexual and reproductive health, almost a third of women living in developing countries become mothers at 19 or younger.
Birth rates are falling, but too slowly.
Mother at age 19 or younger.
This is the reality experienced by almost a third of women living in developing countries according to the UN.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which specializes in sexual and reproductive health, reveals that nearly half of first births among adolescents are to girls aged 17 and under.
In view of these figures, "it is clear that the world is failing adolescent girls", lamented in a press release the director of UNFPA, Natalia Kanem.
“The repeat pregnancies we see among teenage mothers are a clear sign that they are in desperate need of sexual and reproductive health information and services,” she adds.
“Governments must invest in monitoring adolescent girls”
Among girls who had a first child at age 14 or younger, almost three-quarters also have a second child in adolescence.
UNFPA says it sees encouraging signs around the world of declining teenage childbearing rates, but the Fund says the pace of decline is far too slow.
“Governments must invest in monitoring adolescent girls and helping them expand their opportunities, resources and skills, thereby helping to prevent early and unwanted pregnancies,” asks Natalia Kanem.
“When girls are able to meaningfully decide their own life course, motherhood in childhood will become increasingly rare,” she believes.