Adolescent pregnancy

Early pregnancy and motherhood are closely linked to gender inequality and unrealized human rights. An adolescent girl who lacks agency and is prevented from accessing contraception or reproductive health information is denied her right to health. A pregnant adolescent girl who is pressured or forced to leave school is denied her right to education.

At the same time, vulnerable adolescent girls are more likely to become pregnant: In every region of the world – including high-income countries – girls who are poor, poorly educated or living in rural areas are at greater risk of becoming pregnant than those who are wealthier, well educated or who live in urban settings. This is also true on a global level: 95 per cent of adolescent births are in low- and middle-income countries. Alarmingly, every year, millions of girls in this age range resort to unsafe abortions, risking their health and lives.

Adolescent girls who lack agency, choices and opportunities in life, or who have limited or no access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, are more likely to become pregnant. Adolescent girls forced into child marriage – a violation  their human rights – are also more likely to become pregnant. In developing countries, nine out of 10 births to adolescent girls occur within a marriage or a union. The majority of first births to girls aged 17 years and younger, in 54 developing countries with data, occur within marriage or cohabiting unions.

Pregnancy and childbearing complications are a leading cause of death among adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 globally. Many adolescents are not yet physically ready for pregnancy or childbirth and are therefore more vulnerable to experiencing devastating health consequences. Additionally, adolescents who become pregnant tend to be from lower-income households, and many are nutritionally depleted, increasing the risks associated with pregnancy and childbearing. 

Health problems are even more likely if an adolescent girl becomes pregnant too soon after reaching puberty. In low- and middle-income countries, the risk of maternal death for girls under age 15 is higher than for women in their 20s. These girls also face health risks such as obstetric fistula, and their babies face greater risks as well. Adolescent mothers are more likely to face mental health issues including depression.

Adolescent pregnancy takes an enormous toll on a girl’s education and income-earning potential. Many girls who become pregnant are pressured or forced to drop out of school. Adolescent girls not in school are also more likely to become pregnant and marry in childhood. 

Leaving school jeopardizes an adolescent girl’s future economic prospects and excludes her from other opportunities in life. By contrast, girls who remain in school are better prepared for jobs, livelihoods and life’s other transitions. Education also raises their status in their households and communities, and gives them more agency in decisions that affect their lives. An educated girl is less likely to enter into a child marriage. She is also better able to delay childbearing, and is more likely to have a healthy pregnancy, with better outcomes for her and her future children.

Many countries are working to prevent adolescent pregnancy. Unfortunately, some of these efforts often implicitly fault adolescent girls and aim only to change their behaviours, rather than address the underlying drivers of early pregnancy. Such drivers include gender inequality, poverty, sexual violence and coercion, child marriage, social pressures, exclusion from educational and job opportunities, and negative attitudes and stereotypes about girls. Many efforts also fail to account for the role of boys and men, and how masculinity is socially shaped.

A more holistic, gender-transformative and rights-based approach – informed by the best evidence available – is required to support girls’ rights and to empower them to avoid early pregnancy. Such an approach should include the provision of age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education for all young people; investment in girls’ education, especially through the secondary level; the prevention of child, early and forced marriage, sexual violence and coercion; the building of gender-equitable societies by empowering adolescent girls and engaging men and boys in positive masculinities; and measures to ensure adolescents’ access to sexual and reproductive health information as well as services that welcome them and facilitate their choices.

UNFPA works with partners, including governments, academia, civil society and women- and youth-led organizations, to extend access to sexual and reproductive health information, counselling and services, including contraception, to all young people. UNFPA also advocates for the integration of comprehensive sexuality education into school curricula and out-of-school programmes, and supports programmes promoting gender equality, especially those reaching vulnerable adolescent girls, as well as men and boys, and programmes that support young mothers in left-behind populations.

For example, UNFPA works at the policy level in Latin America and the Caribbean, developing and rolling out tools to measure the socioeconomic consequences of adolescent pregnancy in the countries, the impact on the lives of adolescent girls and the impact on countries’ whole economies. This research is informing public investments, policymaking and programmatic interventions. 

UNFPA also works with governments and civil society, and within communities, to end child marriage and empower adolescent girls. UNFPA, together with UNICEF through the Global Programme to End Child Marriage, is reaching millions of adolescent girls, families and men and boys with information about human rights, sexual and reproductive health and the consequences of child marriage and adolescent pregnancy in 12 of the most high-prevalence or high-burden countries: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. Additionally, the Safeguard Young People programme in Southern Africa reaches out to adolescent boys and adolescent girls with health information, access to sexual and reproductive health services and life-skills education.

Updated 13 February 2025