A lower participation in the labor market with a high opportunity cost are some of the aspects analyzed in a study on teenage pregnancy in Bolivia, which recommends improving prevention strategies and implementing “comprehensive sexuality education” in the country.
The research “Socioeconomic consequences of adolescent pregnancy”, developed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) together with the Bolivian Ministry of Health, addresses the educational and health dimensions, as well as labor participation and income foregone by the State.
Unfpa’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Officer, Gustavo Tapia, explained that the study compares the segment of adolescent mothers, from 10 to 19 years of age, with the maternity of young adult women from 20 to 29 years of age.
The methodology used was Milena, a standardized procedure that “uses official records” such as the Household Survey conducted in 2019 along with other sources that serve as support to address this problem, he said.
Conclusions
On the educational aspect, it was established that teenage mothers “had 2.7 times fewer opportunities to obtain a college degree” and that 7.4 percent achieved this level compared to 20.3 percent of young adult mothers.
“The gap is 12.9 percent,” however, the situation of teenage mothers is more dramatic since many “only go as far as high school,” Tapia complemented.
The official also explained that the “labor inactivity gap” between teenage and young adult mothers is 1.6 percent, but that in contrast, this rate affects both groups “significantly” with 32.2 percent and 33.7 percent, respectively.
The text also points out that teenage mothers “earn (annually) on average 28.1 percent less” than those who delayed childbearing, as their income comes to $3,813 compared to $4,888 for mothers between the ages of 20 and 29.
Tapia differentiated between adolescent mothers over 15 years of age and those under that age, who in most cases “are the product of sexual violence”.
The Unfpa official referred to data from the Ministry of Health that establish that last year there were 39,747 teenage pregnancies, of which 37,743 belonged to minors between the ages of 15 and 19, while 2,404 were pregnant women between the ages of 10 and 14.
Among the hard data of the study is that the opportunity cost of teenage pregnancy and early motherhood is “0.91 percent of the National GDP”, some 373.3 million dollars, while the annual loss of income of the female population due to this cause is 322 million.
Other variables should be added to this, such as the State’s tax collection, which amounts to some 16.6 million dollars, or the prenatal and postnatal health care costs, which reach 25.5 million dollars in the care of teenage pregnancies.
Tapia pointed out that the main recommendation is to “develop strategies to prevent and reduce unintended pregnancy”.
According to the study, it is necessary to incorporate “comprehensive sexuality education” in the educational curriculum and in the “non-formal sphere”.
It also proposes that adolescents and young people be provided with “reliable information” so that they can make “informed decisions”, including “voluntary access” to contraceptive methods, “one of the proven strategies to reduce pregnancies”.