Early childbearing in Guatemala: a continuing challenge

Issues Brief (Alan Guttmacher Inst). 2006 Sep:(5):1-20.

Abstract

(1) Guatemala has the third highest adolescent birthrate in Central America-114 births for every 1,000 women aged 15-19 each year. (2) Only two-fifths of 20-24-year-old women have completed primary school. The proportion is one in four in rural areas and one in 10 among indigenous women. (3) One-half of young women enter into a union (formal or consensual) before their 20th birthday. Three-quarters of those with no schooling do so, compared with one-quarter of those with a primary education or more. (4) Forty-four percent of 20-24-year-olds were mothers by age 20; the proportion is highest among young women with no education (68%) and among indigenous women (54%). (5) The great majority of 15-19-year-old women in union-83%, with little variation by residence or ethnicity-do not want to have a child in the next two years. However, only 18% are using an effective contraceptive. (6) Although 70% of 15-24-year-olds who recently gave birth made at least one prenatal care visit, roughly half of the least educated and of indigenous women made none. Moreover, only half of 15-24-year-old mothers had professional medical care at their most recent delivery; the proportion is even lower among the least educated and indigenous women (one-quarter).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adolescent Behavior* / ethnology
  • Adult
  • Contraception Behavior* / ethnology
  • Contraception Behavior* / statistics & numerical data
  • Educational Status
  • Female
  • Guatemala
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
  • Health Policy
  • Humans
  • Maternal Age
  • Poverty
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy in Adolescence* / ethnology
  • Pregnancy in Adolescence* / statistics & numerical data
  • Pregnancy, Unplanned / ethnology
  • Prenatal Care
  • Sexual Behavior / ethnology
  • Sexual Behavior / statistics & numerical data
  • Socioeconomic Factors