Reducing adolescent fertility and addressing the multiple factors underlying it are essential for improving
sexual and reproductive health and the social and economic well-being of adolescents. There is substantial agreement in the literature that women who become pregnant and give birth very early in their reproductive lives are subject to higher risks of complications or even death during pregnancy and birth and their children are also more vulnerable. Therefore, preventing births very early in a woman’s life is an important measure to improve maternal health and reduce infant mortality. Furthermore, women having children at an early age experience a curtailment of their opportunities for socioeconomic improvement, particularly because young mothers are unlikely to keep on studying and, if they need to work, may find it especially difficult to combine family and work responsibilities. The adolescent birth rate also provides indirect evidence on access to pertinent health services since young people, and in particular unmarried adolescent women, often experience difficulties in access to sexual and reproductive health services.
Definition:
The annual number of births to women aged 15-19 years per 1,000 women in that age group. It is also referred to as the age-specific fertility rate for women aged 15-19.
Method of measurement
The adolescent birth rate is computed as a ratio. The numerator is the number of live births to women aged 15-19 years, and the denominator an estimate of exposure to childbearing by women aged 15-19 years. In the case of civil registration data, the numerator is the registered number of live births born to women aged 15-19 years during a given year, and the denominator is the estimated or enumerated population of women aged 15-19 years.
In the case of survey data, the numerator is the number of live births obtained from retrospective birth
histories of the interviewed women who were 15-19 years of age at the time of the births during a
reference period before the interview, and the denominator is person-years lived between the ages of 15
and 19 years by the interviewed women during the same reference period. The reported observation
year corresponds to the middle of the reference period. For some surveys without data on retrospective
birth histories, computation of the adolescent birth rate is based on the date of last birth or the number
of births in the 12 months preceding the survey.
With census data, the adolescent birth rate is computed on the basis of the date of last birth or the
number of births in the 12 months preceding the enumeration. The census provides both the numerator
and the denominator for the rates. In some cases, the rates based on censuses are adjusted for underregistration based on indirect methods of estimation. For some countries with no other reliable data, the
own-children method of indirect estimation provides estimates of the adolescent birth rate for a number
of years before the census.
For a thorough treatment of the different methods of computation, see Handbook on the Collection of
Fertility and Mortality Data, United Nations Publication, Sales No. E.03.XVII.11,
(http://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/SeriesF/SeriesF_92E.pdf). Indirect methods of estimation are
analyzed in Manual X: Indirect Techniques for Demographic Estimation, United Nations Publication, Sales
No. E.83.XIII.2. (http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/Manual_X/Manual_X.htm).
M&E Framework:
Impact
Method of estimation:
For civil registration data, data on births or the adolescent birth rate are obtained from country-reported data from the United Nations Statistics Division or regional Statistics Divisions or statistical units (ESCWA, ESCAP, CARICOM, SPC). The population figures are obtained from the last revision of the United Nations Population Division World Population Prospects and only exceptionally from other sources. Survey data are obtained from national household surveys that are internationally coordinated—such as the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), the Reproductive Health Surveys (RHS), and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS)—and other nationally-sponsored surveys. Other national surveys conducted as part of the European Fertility and Family Surveys (FFS) or the Pan-Arab Project for Family Health (PAPFAM) may be considered as well. The data are taken from published survey reports or, in exceptional cases, other published analytical reports. Whenever the estimates are available in the survey report, they are directly taken from it. If clarification is needed, contact is made with the survey sponsors or authoring organization, which occasionally may supply corrected or adjusted estimates in response. In other cases, if microdata are available, estimates are produced by the Population Division based on national data.
Method of estimation of global and regional aggregates:
The age-specific fertility rates for global and regional aggregates from World Population Prospects (WPP) are based on population reconstruction at the country level and provide a best estimate based on all the available demographic information. WPP considers potentially as many types and sources of empirical estimates as possible (including retrospective birth histories, direct and indirect fertility estimates), and the final estimates are derived to ensure as much internal consistency as possible with all other demographic components and intercensal cohorts enumerated in successive censuses.
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