Motherhood in childhood has become a huge global problem, states a new U.N. report. Every year, 7.3 million girls — or 20,000 per day — below the age of 18 give birth in developing countries, and 2 million of these adolescent mothers are below the age of 15.
Nearly 70,000 of these girls die each year — or nearly 200 day — from pregnancy related complications. And 90 percent of these girls are in marriages or unions.
The United Nations Population Fund's "State of the World Population 2013" report, "Motherhood in Childhood: Facing the Challenge of Adolescent Pregnancy," focuses on the worldwide problem of adolescent pregnancy — which takes a tremendous toll on girls' health, their education and their future employment prospects — and what can be done to reverse this trend.