UNFPA has releases its 2013 edition of the State of the World Population Report: Motherhood in Childhood. This year the report focuses on the impact of adolescent pregnancy on girls’ education, health, and long-term employment.

UNFPA explicitly connects adolescent pregnancy with the failure to fulfill girls’ rights to comprehensive sexuality education and to readily accessible sexual and reproductive health services. UNFPA calls on the global community to address a range of contributing problems, including gender discrimination, lack of autonomy, child marriage, and lack of comprehensive reproductive health information and care. The report also urges the implementation of policies and programs that support, rather than stigmatize, pregnant adolescents.

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, teenage pregnancy is on the decline, but some countries still have high – and in some cases even increasing – adolescent birth rates. And some population groups, such as national minorities, are particularly affected. Tajikistan is the country with the highest teenage birth rate (54 births per 1000 women aged 15-19), followed by Georgia, Azerbaijan, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.

Girls under 15 account for 2 million of the 7.3 million new adolescents mothers every year. One in five girls worldwide has given birth by the age of 18. According to the World Health Organization, roughly 16 million adolescent girls, aged 15-19 years old, give birth every year – most in low- and middle-income countries. Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among girls in this age group.

Find out more HERE.

UNFPA PRESS RELEASE

Access the SWOP report HERE.

Regional briefing paper on adolescent pregnancy in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ASTRA is quoted as a reference)