The National Home Survey (Encuesta Nacional de Hogares/Enhogar) 2018, carried out by the National Statistical Office (ONE), reveals that 19.1% of women ages 15 and 19 become pregnant. Of these, 13.8% have live births, 2.3% either suffer stillborn births or have abortions, and 3.0% were pregnant at the moment of the survey.
This number (19.1%) is slightly lower than the previous study, ENHOGAR MICS 2014, which was 21.2%.
Nonetheless, information from the National Health Service (SNS) reveals that of the 30,910 deliveries registered as of September 2019, 7,563 were of adolescents and of these, 323 were of girls of less than 15 years of age. The number of adolescent deliveries equals about 24%.
The new study also shows that teen pregnancy is more prevalent in specific areas of the country: 23.7% in the rural areas and 22.3% in the South, the poorest area of the country. The survey also revealed that 4.2% of those surveyed were under 15 years of age. It also showed that 18% of those surveyed had two or more children. 72% of the pregnancies occurred while the female was attending some sort of school: primary, secondary or university. Over two-thirds of the pregnancies were not planned or desired. Only 50% of these females were able to continue their studies after the birth of their child.
Last year, the Vice-president, Margarita Cedeño, presented the National Plan for Avoiding Adolescent Pregnancies, which sought to reduce these number.
In the Dominican Republic, between 2010 and 2015, the pregnancy rates of young adolescent females was above the regional average and set at 22.3% of all births.
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El Caribe
14 January 2020