Claim: “30% of girls between the ages 15-19, in Liberia are already mothers, often due to unplanned pregnancies
Full Text: The Swedish Embassy in Liberia, through its Twitter page, posted on Wednesday, July 10, 2023, that “Between the ages 15-19, 30% of girls in Liberia are already mothers, often due to unplanned pregnancies. As a result, many receive less education and lose out on employment prospects.”
The post had attracted 214 views, two comments, and two retweets as of the time of the check.
The Swedish Embassy is one of the international partners in Liberia that supports democracy, health care, and maternal health, among others.
Verification: We contacted the embassy through its Twitter page. Their response was, “Thank you for the question. The statistics are from the Liberia 2019–2020 Demographic & Health Survey: https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR362/FR362.pdf.
We checked the link shared by the embassy and discovered that the demography health survey that was done between 2019 and 2020 proves that the Swedish embassy’s claim is correct.
The report states that adolescent pregnancy undermines girls’ human rights and compromises their opportunity to realize their socioeconomic development potential.
“Teenagers who have early exposure to sexual intercourse are thereby at risk of pregnancy and childbearing. The 2019-20 LDHS collected data on pregnancy in late adolescence (age 15-19).”
The survey continues, “Thirty percent of adolescents had begun childbearing at the time of the survey. Twenty-five percent had given birth, while 5% were pregnant with their first child. As a result, many receive less education and lose out on employment prospects.”
An article published by UNFPA also stated in its report “Access to sexual and reproductive health services gives hope to adolescent girls in Liberia” cited the same LDHS survey report.
Conclusion: The Swedish Embassy was correct that about 30% of girls in Liberia between the ages of 15 and 19 are mothers due to unplanned pregnancies.
