The birth rate among girls aged 15–19 fell from 66.3 to 37.6 per 1,000 between 2000 and 2025, yet about 4.7 million babies were still born to mothers under 18 in 2024, and rates remain highest in sub-Saharan Africa.
Updated October 14, 2026. Written from the sources listed below, not independently peer-reviewed.
In low- and middle-income countries, out of every 10 births to adolescent girls, about how many are to girls who were married before the age of 18?
37.6
Births per 1,000 girls aged 15–19
Global adolescent birth rate, down from 66.3 in 2000 and projected at 34.8 in 2030. Sub-Saharan Africa: 91.4. Modelled estimate.
Data year 2025. Source: United Nations Statistics Division, UN DESA, 2026
4.7 million
Babies born to mothers under 18
About 3.5% of all births worldwide. Some 340,000 were born to girls under 15.
Data year 2024. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2024
21 million a year
Pregnancies among girls aged 15–19 in low- and middle-income countries
About half unintended. They result in around 12 million births a year. Estimate for 2019.
Data year 2019. Source: World Health Organization, 2024
Unit: births per 1,000 girls aged 15–19
* Projection, not a measurement. Modelled estimates from the UN SDG Extended Report 2026, based on UN Population Division data. The 2030 value is a projection, not an observation. Other editions, such as WHO's 2024 fact sheet (64.5 in 2000, 41.3 in 2023), use earlier data revisions, so values from different editions should not be combined.
SDG target 3.7 aims for universal access to sexual and reproductive health care, including family planning, information and education, by 2030. It sets no number for the adolescent birth rate, which is tracked as indicator 3.7.2. The global rate fell from 66.3 per 1,000 girls aged 15–19 in 2000 to 37.6 in 2025 and is projected to reach 34.8 in 2030. Meanwhile the share of all women of reproductive age whose need for family planning is met with modern methods barely moved, from 76.4% in 2015 to 77.3% in the latest estimate (58.6% in sub-Saharan Africa); this measure is not specific to adolescents.
Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest adolescent birth rates of any region in 2025: 91.4 births per 1,000 girls aged 15–19 and 3.0 per 1,000 girls aged 10–14, against 37.6 and 1.0 worldwide. Latin America and the Caribbean (49.3) and Oceania excluding Australia and New Zealand (48.7) followed.
Source: United Nations Statistics Division, UN DESA, 2026Sub-Saharan Africa had an estimated 6.1 million births to girls aged 15–19 in 2021, compared with 68,000 in Central Asia, and 332,000 births to girls aged 10–14, against 22,000 in South-East Asia.
Source: World Health Organization, 2024National averages hide large gaps. In Zambia in 2018, the share of girls aged 15–19 who had begun childbearing ranged from 14.9% in Lusaka to 42.5% in Southern Province; in the Philippines in 2017 it ranged from 3.5% to 17.9% between regions.
Source: World Health Organization, 2024Adolescent pregnancy is more common among girls with less education and from poorer households. Many girls face stigma when they try to obtain contraceptives, and WHO estimates that 120 million girls under 20 have experienced sexual violence by someone other than a partner.
Source: World Health Organization, 2024Each country is shaded by its latest available value, so you can see where the gap is widest. Hover or tap a country, search for one, or open the full table.
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Values in per 1,000 girls aged 15–19.
Modelled estimates from the UN Population Division's World Population Prospects 2024; the map shows each country's latest available year, currently 2024 for all countries. Where births are not fully registered the values rely on surveys and models, and the map does not show births to girls aged 10–14 or differences within countries.
Source: UN Population Division (World Population Prospects), via World Bank Open Data. Latest year available per country; years differ.
Values load from World Bank Open Data. Simplified Natural Earth borders; they imply no position on disputed territories.
Instead of one “percent solved” score, DO GOOD rates three separate dimensions. A problem can have mature solutions that still reach too few people. These ratings are an editorial reading of the sources on this page, not a measured index.
Has the situation improved in the real world?
ModerateThe global birth rate among girls aged 15–19 fell from 66.3 to 37.6 per 1,000 between 2000 and 2025, and births to girls aged 10–14 fell too. But sub-Saharan Africa's rate is still 91.4, and about 4.7 million babies were born to mothers under 18 in 2024.
How mature and validated are the available solutions?
ModerateWHO's 2025 guideline makes 10 recommendations, with strong ones for helping girls complete 12 years of schooling, economic empowerment and changing gender norms. Most others rest on low or very low certainty evidence, and the authors note many studies were too weak or poorly reported to assess.
How widely are effective solutions actually used?
ModerateGirls' school enrolment has grown, with 50 million more girls in school in 2023 than in 2015. Yet secondary completion lags, and restrictions based on age, marital status and consent still limit adolescents' access to contraception in many countries.
The adolescent birth rate is an established SDG indicator, but where births are not registered the figures are modelled. In the least developed countries, 55% of data points came from household surveys whose core funding ended in 2025, and data for girls aged 10–14 remain sparse.
The global rate has declined steadily since 2000, and the pace picked up slightly in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean after 2015. In sub-Saharan Africa it is still only about 0.8% a year, while in Central and Southern Asia, after fast gains, it slowed from 3.5% to about 1.3% a year.
Every year, girls aged 15–19 in low- and middle-income countries have an estimated 21 million pregnancies, about half of them unintended, which lead to around 12 million births (2019 estimates). In 2024 about 4.7 million babies, roughly 3.5% of all births worldwide, were born to mothers under 18, and some 340,000 to girls under 15. Compared with women in their early twenties, mothers aged 10–19 face higher risks of eclampsia, infections of the uterus and of the whole body, and their babies are more likely to be born early, small or seriously ill. Complications of pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of death among girls aged 15–19. More than half of unintended pregnancies in this age group end in abortion, which in many low- and middle-income countries is often unsafe.
Most early pregnancies are not a free choice made in isolation. In low- and middle-income countries, 9 in 10 adolescent births are to girls who were married before 18, and adolescent pregnancy is more common among girls with less schooling or from poorer households. Contraception is hard for adolescents to obtain in many places, and laws on age, marital status or parental consent often restrict it, while sexual violence and coercion also play a part. Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest birth rate among girls aged 15–19 in 2025, 91.4 per 1,000, and large gaps exist within countries too. Early pregnancy can cut girls' education short, limit their later work and income, and affect their mental health, so its consequences reach well beyond the birth itself.
Adolescents are people aged 10–19. Because many pregnancies are never recorded, global monitoring relies mainly on births, which are easier to count, and on modelled estimates where registration is incomplete. The main measures are:
Adolescent birth rate
The number of births per 1,000 girls in a given age group in one year, reported separately for ages 10–14 and 15–19. It is indicator 3.7.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals and the measure shown on the map below (ages 15–19).
Births to mothers under 18
The UN Population Division also counts births to mothers younger than 18 and younger than 15 and their share of all births.
Adolescent pregnancies
Estimates of pregnancies count all pregnancies regardless of how they end, including those that end in abortion. The widely cited figure of 21 million a year among girls aged 15–19 covers low- and middle-income countries only and refers to 2019.
Data sources and gaps
Where births are not fully registered, estimates depend on household surveys. In the least developed countries, 55% of the data points used to monitor indicator 3.7.2 between 2000 and 2025 came from the Demographic and Health Surveys, whose core funding ended in 2025. Data on births to girls aged 10–14 are scarcer, though becoming more widely available.
What works
WHO strongly recommends removing the gender-related barriers that keep girls from completing 12 years of quality schooling, based on moderate-certainty evidence. Of the measures reviewed, covering school costs, providing food and offering academic support were the most effective.
Limits
Completion of secondary school still lags, and school alone cannot help girls who are already married, pregnant or out of school. Pregnant girls are often pushed or forced to leave school, so policies that let them stay or return are also needed.
What works
WHO conditionally recommends incentives tied to staying in school or remaining unmarried, offered as part of social protection for the girls at highest risk, based on moderate-certainty evidence. Poverty is a major driver of child marriage: 712 million people lived below the international poverty line of US$2.15 a day in 2022.
Limits
The evidence WHO summarises is clearest for enrolling girls in school and keeping them there. Programmes need reliable funding and a way to reach the girls most at risk, who are often out of school already.
What works
WHO advises setting 18 as the minimum age of marriage in line with human rights standards, and pairing it with programmes that build girls' skills, assets and networks and that work with parents, boys, men and community leaders to change norms.
Limits
WHO's recommendation on marriage-age laws rests on very low certainty evidence, laws alone have not ended child marriage, and criminalising it can harm girls and their families. The community-based recommendations also rest on low-certainty evidence.
What works
WHO and UNFPA call for adolescent-friendly sexual and reproductive health services, including a range of contraceptive methods, and for comprehensive sexuality education for both boys and girls that explains how to use contraception and where to get services. WHO also advises removing adult consent requirements and reducing costs that deter young people.
Limits
Age and marital-status restrictions still limit access in many countries, and adolescents may face stigma when seeking contraceptives. The recommendation to reduce financial barriers rests on very low certainty evidence.
What works
WHO calls for respectful, good-quality care before, during and after pregnancy and birth, free from stigma and discrimination, together with safe abortion care. UNFPA adds support for young mothers so they can return to school.
Limits
Adolescents may face stigma in health services, and pregnant girls are often pressured to leave school. Good care after the fact does not replace prevention.
Promising, but not proven at scale. The stage shows how far each approach has come; it is not a recommendation.
Behaviour-change programmes that address unequal gender norms with adolescents of both sexes, and with the people around them, received a strong WHO recommendation in 2025 on moderate-certainty evidence. Which components matter most, and how to run them well across whole countries, is still being studied.
WHO conditionally recommends accurate and safe digital interventions as part of sexual and reproductive health programmes for adolescents, but the evidence is of low certainty and their effect on pregnancy rates at scale is not established.
WHO's 2025 adolescent guideline carries forward the relevant recommendations of its 2022 guideline on self-care interventions for health. How well self-care approaches reach adolescents, who face particular barriers in health services, still needs evaluation.
Implementation gap
Requirements based on age, marital status or adult consent still restrict adolescents' access to contraception in many countries, and girls may face stigma when they ask for it. WHO calls for coherent laws and policies on these questions.
Coordination gap
In low- and middle-income countries, 9 in 10 adolescent births are to girls married before 18. Ending child marriage needs action well beyond health care: WHO's 2025 guideline spans schooling, social protection, economic empowerment, community norms and marriage laws.
Implementation gap
In sub-Saharan Africa, the birth rate among girls aged 15–19 has fallen by only about 0.8% a year since 2015, and the region still had 91.4 births per 1,000 in 2025.
Knowledge gap
In the least developed countries, 55% of the data points used to track adolescent birth rates between 2000 and 2025 came from the Demographic and Health Surveys. The end of their core funding in 2025 threatens monitoring, especially where births are not registered.
Knowledge gap
Several of WHO's 2025 recommendations, including on marriage-age laws and reducing the cost of contraception, rest on very low certainty evidence. Many studies used weak designs, reported their interventions incompletely or did not separate younger and older adolescents.
Knowledge gap
Data on births to girls aged 10–14 are only now becoming more widely available, although they are the youngest and most vulnerable group.
Unresolved questions, not vetted breakthroughs. Answering any of them would change what is possible.
Rates fell fast in Central and Southern Asia between 2000 and 2015 but only by about 0.8% a year in sub-Saharan Africa since 2015. How much do marriage patterns, schooling, poverty, conflict and access to contraception each explain?
Many programmes combine life skills, cash, schooling and community work. Studies with factorial designs and clearer reporting are needed to show which components prevent marriage and pregnancy, and at what cost.
How can minimum-age laws be enforced in ways that protect girls without the harms that criminalisation can cause to them and their families, especially where informal unions are common?
With the core funding of the Demographic and Health Surveys ended, how can countries without complete birth registration track adolescent births, especially among girls aged 10–14, reliably and affordably?
Organisations that help girls stay in school, build skills and savings, or prevent child marriage rely on donations. Look for groups that publish independent evaluations of their results.
Much of the work in countries with the highest rates depends on international aid and UN programmes, including the household surveys used to measure progress. Telling your elected representatives that you support this funding is one way to influence it.
Accurate, age-appropriate sexuality education in schools helps young people make informed choices. You can support it in your school community and be an approachable adult for young people in your life.
Stigma keeps young mothers away from health care and school. Supporting local services that help young parents continue their education, and avoiding judgemental language, makes a practical difference to them.
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United Nations Statistics Division, UN DESA (information as of 30 April 2026), published 2026
Official SDG progress storyline for indicators 3.7.1 and 3.7.2. Source of the global adolescent birth rates (66.3 in 2000, 37.6 in 2025, 34.8 projected for 2030; 3.5, 1.0 and 0.9 for ages 10–14), regional rates for 2025, annual rates of reduction, the Central and Southern Asia decline, family planning coverage and the reliance on DHS data in the least developed countries.
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, published 2024
Latest edition of the UN population estimates (no 2025 or 2026 edition exists). Source of the 4.7 million births to mothers under 18 in 2024 (about 3.5% of all births), the 340,000 births to girls under 15, and the recommendations on girls' education, marriage age and family planning.
World Health Organization (10 April 2024), published 2024
WHO's summary of the problem. Source of the 21 million pregnancies and 12 million births a year among girls aged 15–19 in low- and middle-income countries (2019), the share unintended and ending in abortion, health risks for mothers and babies, regional birth numbers for 2021, subnational examples from Zambia and the Philippines, links to education, poverty, contraception access and sexual violence, and the data on girls aged 10–14.
World Health Organization (news release, 23 April 2025), published 2025
Launch of WHO's updated guideline on preventing early pregnancy. Source of the statement that 9 in 10 adolescent births in low- and middle-income countries are to girls married before 18, the estimate that universal secondary completion could cut child marriage by up to two thirds, and the recommended actions on marriage, schooling, services, care and sexuality education.
Plesons M. et al., Journal of Adolescent Health 77(5): 803–809 (November 2025), published 2025
Peer-reviewed summary of the 2025 WHO guideline. Source of the 10 recommendations and seven good practice statements with their strength and certainty of evidence, the poverty figure (712 million below US$2.15 a day in 2022), the 50 million more girls enrolled in school in 2023 than in 2015, restrictions on contraception by age and marital status, the cautions on criminalising child marriage, and the evidence gaps.
UNFPA (updated 13 February 2025), published 2025
UNFPA overview. Source of the statements that 95% of adolescent births occur in low- and middle-income countries, that complications of pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of death among girls aged 15–19, that pregnant girls are often pressured or forced to leave school, and of UNFPA's recommended responses, including support for young mothers to return to school.