WHO reveals that one in four girls fall pregnant before age 20 in SA

Deputy Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Mmapaseka Letsike says South Africa’s teenage pregnancy figures for the 2023/24 financial year, are concerning.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy globally, with nearly one in four girls falling pregnant before age 20.

This is according to data provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Figures released by the Department of Health show that more than 2 700 girls, aged between 10 and 14, are now mothers after giving birth at public healthcare facilities across the country.

Letsike says it’s worrying that teenage pregnancy stats keep on increasing.

“Indeed this is disheartening because it’s really terrible to see the high levels of teenage pregnancy. When you look at 2022/23, girls between the ages of 10-19 fell pregnant. It was estimated that about 150 girls of that age group fell pregnant and it’s a big problem because when you look at the 10-year-old, it’s statutory rape.

For anyone below the age of 16, it is statutory rape. Pregnancy of teenagers or children has devastating social and economic costs.”

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance says there needs to be some serious consequences for the perpetrators of sexual assault in the country.

DA Deputy Spokesperson on Social Development, Alexandra Abrahams reiterates that harsh punishment for rape offenders might curb such crimes.

“We as a DA are shocked and very alarmed by the statistics and they do seem to be increasing.  We need to be asking ourselves the question of the 2 716 young girls between the ages of 10 and 14, how many of those cases have been reported to the police?

How many convictions do we have from those cases because one of the solutions to solving this crisis there needs to be serious consequences for the perpetrators. We need to talk about lengthy jail time so that perpetrators will think twice before committing these crimes.”

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