The number of girls and women who become mothers as teenagers has declined significantly in Germany over the past few decades. As the Federal Statistical Office announced on Tuesday in Wiesbaden, an average of six children were born per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 19 in 2022. According to statisticians, in 2000 there were still 13. According to the information, the number of children born to teenage mothers fell from 29,140 to 10,999 in the same period. However, the number of female teenagers in this country is also declining: According to statistics, there were 2.25 million young women between the ages of 15 and 19 living in Germany in 2000, but in 2022 there were only 1.87 million.
The Federal Office announced the figures on the occasion of World Day of the Girl on October 11th. The day of action was launched by the United Nations in 2011 to make the concerns of girls visible and to advocate for their opportunities and rights. Globally, statistics also counted fewer teenage mothers. While in 2000 the global average was 64 children per 1,000 young women aged 15 to 19, in 2021 there were 42 newborns, around a third less, as the federal statisticians report with reference to UN figures. There is no international data available yet for 2022.
The number of children born to 15- to 19-year-olds fell from 18.1 million in 2000 to 12.8 million in 2021. While the number of births fell, the number of young women increased over the same period: there were 280 worldwide in 2000 .2 million female adolescents, in 2021 there were 301.7 million.
However, according to the statisticians, there were large regional differences among teenage mothers. The relative majority were in Central Africa in 2021. There were a total of 119 newborns for every 1,000 young women. West Africa followed with 104 newborns. For comparison: in Western Europe there were seven newborns for every 1,000 young women.
