Kelly Jean Kelly has more.
U.N. Population Fund says adolescent pregnancy is the focus of World Population Day 2013.
Giving birth to a baby should be a happy time in a woman’s life. But for millions of young girls around the world, early pregnancy and childbirth result in serious problems.
The UN’s State of the World Population 2013 report finds that in developing countries, 20,000 girls under 18 give birth every day. The report estimates that 70,000 young women in developing countries die each year during pregnancy and childbirth.
The director of the UN Population Fund in Geneva, Alanna Armitage, says young girls are more likely to be forced to marry and have sex. She says death among mothers under age 15 from low- and middle-income countries is twice that of older women.
The report demonstrates the economic results of adolescent pregnancy. For example, the report considers Kenya. It says the Kenyan economy would have improved greatly if the more than 200,000 young mothers studied had been employed instead of getting pregnant. It says the economy would have gained 3.4 billion dollars.
Pregnant teenagers stand at the entrance of a maternity home in Jinotega city, some 160 km (99 miles) north of Managua October 24, 2013. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Nicaragua has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Latin America where between 13,000 and 16,000 adolescents give birth every year, counting for about 16% of the total births in the country. Picture taken October 24, 2013. REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25