Nearly a third of all women in developing countries begin childbearing at age 19 and younger, and nearly half of first births to adolescents are to children, or girls aged 17 and younger, UNFPA research shows.
Mbuto Machili / UNFPA Mozambique
26 SEPTEMBER 2023
Access to birth control, which empowers women with the agency to decide if, when, and how many children to bear, is a fundamental human right.
While increased use of contraception among women in low- and lower-middle-income countries has successfully prevented over 141 million unintended pregnancies, curbed 29 million unsafe abortions, and averted nearly 150,000 maternal deaths, only 1 in 4 women in these developing nations can realize their desired fertility intentions. This means that an unacceptably large number of women are still having more children than they want - with dire consequences.