Pregnancy of girls at tender age affects the health of the mother and the new born. At time it leads to death of either the mother or the new born. Adolescent pregnancy creates a problem to young mother’s education and consequent empowerment India is no exception to these happenings.

According to the Executive Director of UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Dr Babatunde Osotimehin “about 16 million girls aged 15-19 give birth each year, and complications from pregnancy and child birth are the leading cause of death among girls in this age group, especially in developing countries.”

In recent decades, the issue of increasingly imbalanced sex ratios at birth has caused concern, starting in a number of Asian countries, but now also spreading beyond that region. Today, an estimated 117 million women across Asia are 'missing.' Although this trend is concentrated in countries of South Asia and South-East Asia (India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China and Viet Nam), we are now seeing an emerging prevalence of the problem in some countries of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, says UNFPA findings.

The recent UNFPA report, The State of World Population 2013 said that in developing countries every year 7.3 million girls under 18 give birth.

Of these 7.3 million births, 2 million are to girls 14 or younger, who suffer the gravest long-term health and social consequences from pregnancy, including high rates of maternal death and obstetric fistula, according to the report, entitled, Motherhood in Childhood: Facing the Challenge of Adolescent Pregnancy.

If Dr Osotimehin’s figure of 16 million girls between age group 15-19 giving birth each year in developing countries is taken with the UNFPA estimate of 7.3 million girls under 18 giving birth each year, then it can be estimated that 8.7 million 19-year old girls in developing countries gave birth every year.

The report places particular emphasis on girls 14 and younger who are at double the risk of maternal death and obstetric fistula.

“Too often, society blames only the girl for getting pregnant,” said UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin. “The reality is that adolescent pregnancy is most often not the result of a deliberate choice, but rather the absence of choices, and of circumstances beyond a girl’s control. It is a consequence of little or no access to school, employment, quality information and health care.”

According to the UNFPA report, early pregnancy takes a toll on a girl’s health, education and rights. It also prevents her from realizing her potential and adversely impacts the baby.

It is not just mothers and babies that suffer consequences. Children having children also severely impacts communities and nations’ economies. For example, if the more than 200,000 adolescent mothers in Kenya were employed instead of having become pregnant, $3.4 billion could have been added to the economy. This is equivalent to the value of Kenya’s entire construction sector. If adolescent girls in Brazil and India had been able to wait until their early 20s, the countries would have greater economic productivity equal to over $3.5 billion and $7.7 billion, respectively.