Why teen motherhood remains common in Latin America—even as education expanded
Based on:
Journal Article (2025)
Using data from 15 Latin American and Caribbean countries over more than half a century, this study examines how girls’ schooling trajectories relate to becoming a mother before age 20 and to repeat teen births. It focuses on the contrast between girls who leave school early versus those who stay enrolled through late adolescence.
Brief by:
Research collaborators:
Over the past 60 years, Latin America and the Caribbean have gone through one of the fastest transitions in family size in the world. Families are much smaller today than they were in the 1960s, and girls’ access to education has expanded dramatically. On paper, these changes should have led to large declines in teen childbearing.
Yet they did not.
While overall childbearing fell sharply—from about six to two children per woman—and average years of schooling for young women more than doubled, teen childbearing declined much more slowly. Today, around one in three women in the region still becomes a mother before age 20, a share that has remained strikingly stable across generations. Much of the decline in teen childbearing has come not from fewer girls becoming mothers, but from fewer repeat births during their teenage years among those who do.
Experimental studies from many countries show that schooling reduces teen childbearing, yet long-term trends in Latin America seem to tell a different story. I conducted this research to help make sense of that contradiction. Much of the existing evidence focuses on short time periods, broad education categories, or overall teen birth rates, which can hide important differences between first and repeat teen births and between girls who leave school early and those who stay enrolled through their teenage years.
By taking a long-term view across 15 countries and examining teen childbearing in relation to detailed schooling pathways, this study shows that early motherhood has remained common largely because of rising childbearing among girls who leave school before the later teen years.
Key findings
Teen motherhood stayed common because risk increased among girls who leave school early
Evidence
Across the region, the share of women who became mothers before age 20 declined only modestly—from about 43% in the 1960 cohort to 37% in the most recent cohorts. At the same time, the likelihood of teen motherhood rose sharply within many schooling pathways. Among girls who left school by about age 16 or earlier, the chance of becoming a teen mother roughly doubled, reaching 50–68% in recent cohorts.
What it means
Stable overall rates hide major shifts underneath. Teen motherhood remains common not because nothing changed, but because risk intensified among girls who leave school early, even as more girls stayed in school longer.
Staying enrolled through the teen years still strongly protects against early motherhood
Evidence
The only schooling pathways that did not experience rising teen motherhood were those that kept girls enrolled through most or all of adolescence (roughly, school exit at ages 19 and later). In these pathways, the likelihood of becoming a teen mother remained stable or declined slightly over time.
What it means
School enrollment during the teen years continues to act as a powerful brake on early childbearing. Keeping girls in school through late adolescence matters, today just as much as it did decades ago.
Education’s ability to delay first births after school exit has weakened
Evidence
In earlier cohorts, even modest differences in schooling separated groups with very different risks of teen motherhood. Over time, that separation faded. In recent cohorts, many schooling pathways—especially those ending before late adolescence—show similar rates of first teen births, regardless of considerable differences in years of schooling.
What it means
While schooling still protects girls while they are enrolled, it no longer reliably delays motherhood after they leave school. The “future-plans” or aspirational influence of schooling appears weaker than it once was.
Repeat births during the teenage years declined sharply
Evidence
Among girls who became teen mothers, the average number of births before age 20 fell from about 1.8 to 1.3 between the earliest and most recent cohorts—a decline of nearly 30%. This drop occurred across most schooling pathways, even though first births often happened at slightly younger ages.
What it means
Much of the progress in teen childbearing has come from preventing repeat births during adolescence, likely reflecting better access to contraception after a first birth and stronger norms around birth spacing.
The timing of pregnancy relative to school leaving has changed little within schooling groups
Evidence
Within each schooling pathway, the share of pregnancies occurring before, during, or after school exit remained remarkably stable across cohorts. Apparent increases in in-school pregnancies at the population level were driven almost entirely by more girls being enrolled at older ages, not by changes within schooling groups.
What it means
More girls are staying in school longer, so more teen pregnancies occur while girls are enrolled. However, within each schooling pathway, the split between pregnancies happening before, around, and after school leaving changed very little over time.
Proposed action
Prioritize policies that keep girls enrolled through upper secondary school, as this is where schooling most consistently protects against becoming a teen mother.
Pair upper secondary retention with early, youth-friendly contraception access before first birth, especially for girls who are at risk of leaving school early.
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Why teen motherhood remains common in Latin America—even as education expanded
Cite this brief: Garbett, Ann. 'Why teen motherhood remains common in Latin America—even as education expanded'. Acume. https://www.acume.org/r/why-teen-motherhood-remains-common-in-latin-america-even-as-education-expanded/
Brief created by: Ann Garbett | Year brief made: 2026
Original research:
- Neal, S., Garbett, A., & et al., (2025) ‘Reframing the Relationship Between Fertility and Education in Adolescence: 60 Years of Evidence From Latin America’ Population and Development Review 51(2), pp. 656–701 https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12720. – https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12720
Research brief:
Using data from 15 Latin American and Caribbean countries over more than half a century, this study examines how girls’ schooling trajectories relate to becoming a mother before age 20 and to repeat teen births. It focuses on the contrast between girls who leave school early versus those who stay enrolled through late adolescence.
Over the past 60 years, Latin America and the Caribbean have gone through one of the fastest transitions in family size in the world. Families are much smaller today than they were in the 1960s, and girls’ access to education has expanded dramatically. On paper, these changes should have led to large declines in teen childbearing.
Yet they did not.
While overall childbearing fell sharply—from about six to two children per woman—and average years of schooling for young women more than doubled, teen childbearing declined much more slowly. Today, around one in three women in the region still becomes a mother before age 20, a share that has remained strikingly stable across generations. Much of the decline in teen childbearing has come not from fewer girls becoming mothers, but from fewer repeat births during their teenage years among those who do.
Experimental studies from many countries show that schooling reduces teen childbearing, yet long-term trends in Latin America seem to tell a different story. I conducted this research to help make sense of that contradiction. Much of the existing evidence focuses on short time periods, broad education categories, or overall teen birth rates, which can hide important differences between first and repeat teen births and between girls who leave school early and those who stay enrolled through their teenage years.
By taking a long-term view across 15 countries and examining teen childbearing in relation to detailed schooling pathways, this study shows that early motherhood has remained common largely because of rising childbearing among girls who leave school before the later teen years.
Findings:
Teen motherhood stayed common because risk increased among girls who leave school early
Across the region, the share of women who became mothers before age 20 declined only modestly—from about 43% in the 1960 cohort to 37% in the most recent cohorts. At the same time, the likelihood of teen motherhood rose sharply within many schooling pathways. Among girls who left school by about age 16 or earlier, the chance of becoming a teen mother roughly doubled, reaching 50–68% in recent cohorts.
Stable overall rates hide major shifts underneath. Teen motherhood remains common not because nothing changed, but because risk intensified among girls who leave school early, even as more girls stayed in school longer.
Staying enrolled through the teen years still strongly protects against early motherhood
The only schooling pathways that did not experience rising teen motherhood were those that kept girls enrolled through most or all of adolescence (roughly, school exit at ages 19 and later). In these pathways, the likelihood of becoming a teen mother remained stable or declined slightly over time.
School enrollment during the teen years continues to act as a powerful brake on early childbearing. Keeping girls in school through late adolescence matters, today just as much as it did decades ago.
Education’s ability to delay first births after school exit has weakened
In earlier cohorts, even modest differences in schooling separated groups with very different risks of teen motherhood. Over time, that separation faded. In recent cohorts, many schooling pathways—especially those ending before late adolescence—show similar rates of first teen births, regardless of considerable differences in years of schooling.
While schooling still protects girls while they are enrolled, it no longer reliably delays motherhood after they leave school. The “future-plans” or aspirational influence of schooling appears weaker than it once was.
Repeat births during the teenage years declined sharply
Among girls who became teen mothers, the average number of births before age 20 fell from about 1.8 to 1.3 between the earliest and most recent cohorts—a decline of nearly 30%. This drop occurred across most schooling pathways, even though first births often happened at slightly younger ages.
Much of the progress in teen childbearing has come from preventing repeat births during adolescence, likely reflecting better access to contraception after a first birth and stronger norms around birth spacing.
The timing of pregnancy relative to school leaving has changed little within schooling groups
Within each schooling pathway, the share of pregnancies occurring before, during, or after school exit remained remarkably stable across cohorts. Apparent increases in in-school pregnancies at the population level were driven almost entirely by more girls being enrolled at older ages, not by changes within schooling groups.
More girls are staying in school longer, so more teen pregnancies occur while girls are enrolled. However, within each schooling pathway, the split between pregnancies happening before, around, and after school leaving changed very little over time.
Advice:
Prioritize policies that keep girls enrolled through upper secondary school, as this is where schooling most consistently protects against becoming a teen mother.
Pair upper secondary retention with early, youth-friendly contraception access before first birth, especially for girls who are at risk of leaving school early.