BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA – Some 20 percent of all babies born in Colombia are to girls under the age of 18, a UN report on motherhood and population growth revealed Wednesday.
The United Nations’ annual State of the World Population report for 2013, entitled Motherhood in Childhood ranks Colombia among eight Latin American countries with 20 percent or higher reported births to girls who are under the age of 18.
At 28 percent, Nicaragua ranks as the Latin American country with the highest birth rate to girls under 18, followed by Honduras (26 percent), the Dominican Republic (25 percent), Guatemala (24 percent), El Salvador (24 percent), Ecuador (21 percent) and Colombia, at 20 percent.
The highest rates of pregnancy to minors in the world are found in impoverished African countries. Topping the UN report’s list is Niger, where more than half of all babies born are to underage girls, followed by Chad at 48 percent, and Mali at 46 percent.
Virtually all girls who give birth before 18 are single mothers who have a limited support network and little or no access to health resources.
Every year in developing countries, a total of 7.3 million girls under 18 give birth, according to the report.
One in 10 girls has a child before the age of 15 in Bangladesh, Chad, Guinea, Mali, Mozambique and Niger, the UN report said.
The UN Report - Motherhood in Childhood can be read at: http://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/swp2013/EN-SWOP2013-final.pdf
Underage girls who get pregnant are much less likely to receive or complete their education. They are also much more likely to spend their lives working unskilled, low-paying jobs and raise their children near subsistence levels.
“Impoverished, poorly educated and rural girls are more likely to become pregnant than their wealthy, urban, educated counterparts,” the report stated.
The UN report offered eight strategies to help alleviate the cycle of poverty closely linked to adolescent pregnancy.
They include: intervention in the lives of adolescent girls between the ages of 10-14; preventing child marriage and sexual coercion; giving girls greater access to health resources; protecting the human rights of young girls; getting girls in school and lowering drop-out rates due to pregnancy; engaging men and boys to be a part of the solution; expanding sex education and pregnancy prevention; and treating girls and boys equally.
The United Nations’ annual State of the World Population report for 2013, entitled Motherhood in Childhood ranks Colombia among eight Latin American countries with 20 percent or higher reported births to girls who are under the age of 18.
At 28 percent, Nicaragua ranks as the Latin American country with the highest birth rate to girls under 18, followed by Honduras (26 percent), the Dominican Republic (25 percent), Guatemala (24 percent), El Salvador (24 percent), Ecuador (21 percent) and Colombia, at 20 percent.
The highest rates of pregnancy to minors in the world are found in impoverished African countries. Topping the UN report’s list is Niger, where more than half of all babies born are to underage girls, followed by Chad at 48 percent, and Mali at 46 percent.
Virtually all girls who give birth before 18 are single mothers who have a limited support network and little or no access to health resources.
Every year in developing countries, a total of 7.3 million girls under 18 give birth, according to the report.
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| Pregnant Colombian Adolescents |
The UN Report - Motherhood in Childhood can be read at: http://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/swp2013/EN-SWOP2013-final.pdf
Underage girls who get pregnant are much less likely to receive or complete their education. They are also much more likely to spend their lives working unskilled, low-paying jobs and raise their children near subsistence levels.
“Impoverished, poorly educated and rural girls are more likely to become pregnant than their wealthy, urban, educated counterparts,” the report stated.
The UN report offered eight strategies to help alleviate the cycle of poverty closely linked to adolescent pregnancy.
They include: intervention in the lives of adolescent girls between the ages of 10-14; preventing child marriage and sexual coercion; giving girls greater access to health resources; protecting the human rights of young girls; getting girls in school and lowering drop-out rates due to pregnancy; engaging men and boys to be a part of the solution; expanding sex education and pregnancy prevention; and treating girls and boys equally.
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