State of World Population 2013

UNFPA13wThe 2013 report from UNFPA focuses on preventing adolescent pregnancy. Not unlike our own experience, it underscores the closely interlinked underlying conditions that must be addressed to achieve this: Child marriage, Gender inequality, Obstacles to human rights, Poverty, Sexual violence and coercion 19%, National policies restricting access to contraception, age-appropriate sexuality education, Lack of access to education and reproductive health services, and underinvestment in adolescent girls’ human capital.

The report highlights some horrendous statistics: 20,000 girls giving birth every day, 70,000 girls dying in childbirth each year, 3.2 million unsafe abortions performed on girls each year.

All of our countries have rates of adolescent childbirth above 20% except Mexico and Peru – and these do not represent the situation of rural girls, where adolescent pregnancy is very high.

Adolbirth

The report tracks the indicators on the commitments made at the International Conference on Population and Development. Here are selected indicators for THP program countries.

Country Adol. BR Attended Contracep. SS female
BD 133 31 61 51
BF 130 67 16 17
BN 114 84 13 13
ET 79 10 29 11
GH 70 55 24 44
IN 76 58 55 na
MW 157 71 46 29
MX 87 95 71 74
MZ 193 54 12 17
PE 72 85 69 78
SN 93 65 13 19
UG 159 58 30 15

Meaning of indiators:

Adol. BR: Number of adolescent girls giving birth in a given year per 1,000.
Attended: Percentage of births attended by skilled birth attendants
Contracep: Percentage of women using any form of contraception.
SS female: Percentage of girls enrolled in secondary school.