United Nations

Levels of adolescent childbearing, which can have adverse health and social consequences both for the young mothers and for the children they bear, have fallen in most countries. Among the eight SDG regions in 2015-2020, the adolescent birth rate, that is, the number of births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19, was highest in sub-Saharan Africa, at 104 per 1,000 women, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean at 63 per 1,000. The ratio of adolescent to total fertility was highest in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the birth rate at ages 15 to 19 years contributed 15 per cent of total fertility. »

Significant disparities remain in the need for family planning satisfied with modern methods across countries and regions. In sub-Saharan Africa, only slightly more than half (55 per cent) of the need for family planning is being met with modern methods. Less than half of the need is met with modern methods in 42 countries or areas, including 23 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Less than a quarter of the need is satisfied with modern methods in Chad, Somalia and South Sudan. »

The average number of live births per women over a lifetime has fallen markedly in many regions over the past several decades. Today, close to half of the global population lives in a country or area where lifetime fertility is below 2.1 births per woman (roughly the level required for populations with low mortality to have a growth rate of zero in the long run). In 2019, fertility remains above this level, on average, in sub-Saharan Africa (4.6), Oceania* (3.4), Northern Africa and Western Asia (2.9), and Central and Southern Asia (2.4). Globally, the level of fertility is expected to fall from an average of 2.5 live births per woman in 2019 to 2.2 in 2050 and to 1.9 in 2100, according to the medium-variant projection. The largest reductions in the level of total fertility are projected to occur in subSaharan Africa »