Early childbearing in Nicaragua: a continuing challenge.

Between 1980 and 2003 the birthrate among Nigerian women aged 15–19 decreased by 27% (from 173 to 126 births per 1000 women this age). Nonetheless 46% of women nationally and about 70% of those in some regions still give birth before their 20th birthday. Nigerian women who start having children while they are still adolescents face severe social and health disadvantages including curtailed educational opportunities which reduce women’s social and economic status long term elevated rates of perinatal death and maternal complications and death. This report provides a profile of the current childbearing experience of adolescent women in Nigeria explores the factors associated with widely varying levels of teenage childbearing across the country and identifies the continuing reproductive health needs of young Nigerian women. The report provides data for the nation as a whole as well as for the country’s major regions to help inform decision-making at both the national and regional levels. It does not attempt to synthesize the substantial body of in-depth research on issues related to adolescent childbearing in Nigeria which consists largely of small-scale studies that do not permit national generalizations or regional comparisons. (excerpt)