One In 23 Brazilian Adolescents Becomes A Mother Every Year
By Flavia Albuquerque
A study on adolescent motherhood in Brazil conducted by researchers from the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), in Rio Grande do Sul state, revealed that one in 23 adolescents aged 15 through 19 becomes a mother every year. From 2020 to 2022, over 1 million young people in this age group had children.
Among girls aged 10 to 14, the figure has risen to 49 thousand. Under the law, any pregnancy in this age group is considered the result of statutory rape.
The survey calculated the fertility rate among adolescents across all of Brazil’s more than 5,500 municipalities and showed that one in five municipalities has levels comparable to those in the poorest countries in the world.
The figures indicate that Brazil’s adolescent fertility rate is 43.6 births per thousand adolescents—almost twice as many as in upper-middle-income countries (24 per thousand)—like Brazil—and much higher than in BRICS partner countries—such as Russia, India, and China, where the maximum rate does not exceed 16.3 per thousand.
Most municipalities were expected to show indicators similar to those of nations with a similar income level to Brazil’s, said Aluísio Barros, epidemiologist, UFPel researcher, and study leader.
“The results point to a systemic failure, with 69 percent of Brazilian municipalities displaying rates worse than those expected for an upper-middle-income country, and one in five (22%) having fertility indicators as high as those of low-income countries,” he stated.
Socio-economic deprivation is the factor most associated with high rates in the study.
“Municipalities with greater scarcity of resources, low income, illiteracy, and poor infrastructure have the highest rates of adolescent fertility. This finding reinforces that adolescent motherhood is fundamentally the outcome of a context of exclusion and lack of opportunities,” the study concludes saying.
In Barros’ view, the results demonstrate that Brazil is failing to protect its young women, and that public policies are needed to tackle the causes of the problem—such as poverty, school dropouts, and lack of access to services and prospects for the future. “Adolescent pregnancy is not a choice, but rather the outcome of a context of deprivation and lack of opportunities,” he said.
Thais Junqueira, general superintendent of Umane—a nonprofit active in public health projects—recalled that Brazil’s national health care system, the SUS, promotes a wide range of initiatives aimed at sexual and reproductive health, such as free access to contraceptive methods and sex education programs aimed at adolescents, which also reach the school environment and are joined by many community organizations.
“Research is essential when we try to understand the multiple challenges we still face in Brazil. The fact that adolescent pregnancy still represents such a huge challenge in Brazil requires coordinated responses and greater engagement from different sectors of society,” she said.
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