The report, entitled, “Motherhood in childhood: facing the challenge of adolescent pregnancy” targets the issues of teenage pregnancy and motherhood in childhood.

Children having children also severely impacts communities and nations’ economies. For example, if the more than 200,000 adolescent mothers in Kenya were employed instead of having become pregnant, $3.4 billion could have been added to the economy. This is equivalent to the value of Kenya’s entire construction sector. If adolescent girls in Brazil and India had been able to wait until their early 20s, the countries would have greater economic productivity equal to over $3.5 billion and $7.7 billion, respectively.

While the report concludes that adolescent pregnancy is a much bigger challenge in the developing world than in developed countries, it finds that it is still also a significant issue in the latter. In the United States, for example, only about half of the girls who become pregnant as adolescents complete high school by 22, compared to 9 out of 10 girls who do not become pregnant. It also harms the economy as a whole, with nearly $11 billion a year in costs to taxpayers in the U.S. alone.

In Armenia

According to the report, in Armenia only 8 per cent of live births is attributable to mothers of age <20, while adolescent birth rate is 28.3 (per 1000 women). The report shows that 3 per cent of girls at age 15-19 use modern contraception. This indicator reaches to 18 per cent for young women of age 20-24.

In addition, the report reveals that abortion rate (abortion per 1000 live births) among women below 20 years old in Armenia is approximately 189.

For details, please visit the report web page on UNFPA Armenia web site, and the report global page.