Africa records slight drop in pregnancy among 15-year-olds
Africa records a 1.2 per cent drop in pregnancy among 15-year-olds.
What you need to know:
- In 2019, fertility rates among girls aged 15 in Africa stood at 35.21, a drop from 35.68 in 2018.
- This represents a 1.3 per cent shrink, higher than the present.
Africa recorded a 1.2 per cent decline in teenage pregnancy among 15-year-olds in the 2020-221 period, a drop in progress compared to the previous phase.
An analysis of the data of age-specific births per 1,000 women reveals an uneven breakthrough in reducing births among underage girls. The data was provided by the United Nations Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
For instance, in 2019, fertility rates among girls aged 15 in Africa stood at 35.21, a drop from 35.68 in 2018. This represents a 1.3 per cent shrink, higher than the present.
However, the recent decline was higher than the global average of 0.1 per cent. But still, the region has the highest fertility rates in the world among the 15-year-olds. As of 2021, there were 34.09 births per 1,000 girls aged 15 years, almost thrice the global average of 13.36.
For the 2020-21 period, the Oceania region recorded the highest decline of 0.76 in fertility rate, followed by Africa with 0.43. Asia came third with 0.11, with Europe, which currently has the least fertility rate, recording the slowest progress. The numbers dropped by only 0.02 per cent.
Nevertheless, as of 2021, the region had 1.5 births per 1,000, 15-year-old girls. In contrast, in Northern America, the fertility rates ballooned by 0.11.
In 2020, there were 1.44 births per 1,000, 15-year-old girls rising to 1.55 in 2021.
The 2023 State of World Population Report by the United Nations Population Fund raises a warning of further increase in teenage pregnancy in Sub-Saharan Africa due to “confluence of population growth and slow progress in reducing early childbearing.”
