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Motherhood in childhood: the untold story

Nearly a third of all women in developing countries start having children at the age of 19 or younger, and nearly half of first births to adolescents, are to children or girls aged 17 or under, reveals this new research by the UNFPA.

This report examines trends in adolescent childbearing using techniques that focus on the most vulnerable girls, such as child mothers, girls with repeat adolescent childbearing, and births that occur in dangerously quick succession. In using these new measures, it uncovers the untold story of more than 50 years of adolescent childbearing in the world’s low- and middle-income countries.