According to the latest Annual Yearbook of Vital Statistics from the National Statistics Office (ONE), in 2023, 647 girls between the ages of nine and 14 gave birth in the Dominican Republic. These 647 new mothers represent 0.41% of the total number of births registered in 2023, which were 156,024. The total figure reflects a decrease of 8.26% compared to the previous year (2022) when there were 170,069 registered births, Diario Libre reports.
“It is still important to note that there were still births to women under the age of 15, which represented 0.41% of the total, reflecting an increase of 0.07% compared to 2022 (0.34%)”, the ONE report states.
The Dominican Republic has a relatively high rate of teenage pregnancy, with 20.4% of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 being mothers. Teenage pregnancy can have a significant negative impact on the lives of young mothers, including health risks, educational challenges, and economic hardship.
The ONE 2023 report highlights that there were one 9-year-old girl, three 11-year-old girls, 15 12-year-old girls, 122 girls under 13, and 506 14-year-old girls who gave birth in 2023.
Factors that contribute to teenage pregnancy include poverty, lack of access to education and healthcare, gender inequality and cultural norms that endorse early marriage and childbearing. There is also a renewed effort in Public Health and Education authorities to provide comprehensive sex education and family planning services to young people.
The government has implemented programs to address the issue of teenage pregnancy, including providing comprehensive sex education in schools, expanding access to contraception, and promoting family planning.
The First Lady’s Office is working intensely to reduce the number of children giving birth. Government programs such as Superate are unfolded in coordination with the United Nations’ Unicef office in the Dominican Republic.
The Dominican Republic has a total fertility rate of 2.2 children per woman. The statistics reveal that Dominican births are dropping significantly, but these remain relatively high due to the large number of Haitian immigrants.
While the overall trend is positive, the Dominican Republic still has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the Latin America and Caribbean region. Listin Diario highlights that despite the efforts, the child parenting statistics continue to be grim. The adolescent fertility rate (births per 1,000 women aged 15-19) in the Dominican Republic is 63.2. The Dominican Republic has a high rate of child marriage, with 35% of girls married or in union before the age of 18.
Read more:
National Statistics Office Report 2023
Diario Libre
Listin Diario
El Pais
DR1 News
24 July 2024