Adolescent birth rate (per 1000 women aged 15–19 years)

What does this indicator tell us?

The adolescent birth rate, technically known as the age-specific fertility rate provides a basic measure of reproductive health that focuses on adolescent women as a vulnerable group.

The adolescent birth rate (per 1000 women aged 15-19 years) is included as an intermediate outcome indicator in the core set of indicators for the Global Nutrition Monitoring Framework.

How is this indicator defined?

This indicator is defined as the annual number of births to women aged 15-19 years per 1000 women in that age group. It is also referred to as the age-specific fertility rate for women aged 15-19.

What are the consequences and implications?

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 socio-economic 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 provides also indirect evidence on access to reproductive health since the youth, and in particular unmarried adolescent women, often experience difficulties in access to reproductive health care.

Source of data

WHO. Global Health Observatory (GHO) data repository. Adolescent birth rate. Data by country (http://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.main.GSWCAH31v).

Further reading

WHO. Adolescent pregnancy. In: Fact sheets [website]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2018 (http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-pregnancy). 

WHO, UNICEF. Global Nutrition Monitoring Framework: operational guidance for tracking progress in meeting targets for 2025. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2017 (http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/operational-guidance-GNMF-indicators/en/). 

Internet resources

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Adolescents pregnancy. (https://www.unfpa.org/adolescent-pregnancy).

WHO. Reproductive health library. Adolescent sexual and reproductive health (https://extranet.who.int/rhl/topics/adolescent-sexual-and-reproductive-health).