About 16 million women 15–19 years old give birth each year, about 11% of all births worldwide.
Ninety-five per cent of these births occur in low- and middle-income countries. The average adolescent birth rate in middleincome countries is more than twice as high as that in high-income countries, with the rate in low-income countries being five times as high.
The proportion of births that take place during adolescence is about 2% in China, 18% in Latin America and the Caribbean and more than 50% in sub-Saharan Africa.
Half of all adolescent births occur in just seven countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria and the United States.