Thursday, July 16, 2026

Teenage pregnancy ruining Ugandan economy: UN

By the age of 21, many young people, especially in rural areas, have had at least three children.

• July 12, 2022
pregnant woman
A pregnant woman used to illustrate the story

Child marriages and teenage pregnancies are costing Uganda’s social economic progress and are not conducive to the country’s wealth creation and prosperity, says the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

As the world commemorated World Population Day on Monday, experts and agencies gathered in the eastern Ugandan district of Kumi to assess the population challenges the country faces.


“Teenage pregnancy is a major health, social and economic issue that has affected many young people, their families, communities and countries globally,” said UNFPA Uganda Country Representative Mary Otieno during the event.

Ms Otieno added that early childbearing had the potential to disrupt their development into adulthood.

“It impacts negatively their education aspirations, livelihoods, health, and future social economic productivity,” she further explained. “The households and communities are compelled to shoulder an extra burden in supporting the young mother and her child but also lose the dividends due to early motherhood intersected with childhood.”

UNFPA figures show that in Uganda, by the age of 21, many young people, especially in rural areas, have had at least three children and lack the means to postpone or delay or stop any unintended or unwanted pregnancy.

Presiding over the population day commemoration, Ugandan Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja urged the public to take advantage of the existing government programmes to create wealth instead of marrying off young girls for bride price.

“Government does not support the practice of marrying off young girls who are supposed to be in school,” Mr Nabbanja said.

The commemoration was held with the theme ‘Mindset change for wealth creation: Ending child marriage and teenage pregnancy’.

(Xinhua/NAN)

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

TransDigm, Stellant Systems

Economy

TransDigm abandons acquisition of Stellant Systems after DOJ’s decision to block transaction

TransDigm Group has abandoned its attempt to acquire rival defence and industrial component manufacturer Stellant Systems.

President Bola Tinubu

Abuja

Trump pressures Tinubu on terror prosecutions, protection for Christians

The U.S. pressed the Nigerian government to do more to protect Christians from attacks, and that greater efforts and resources must be allocated to the safe return of IDPs.

34th Engineering Assembly of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN)

Abuja

COREN Assembly: Tinubu seeks strong regulation, sanctions

Mr Tinubu said this at the opening of the 34th Engineering Assembly of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria in Abuja.

Russians for cybercrime

Heading 1

U.S. indicts bulletproof hosting firms Medialand, ML.Cloud, three Russians for cybercrime, wire fraud, money laundering

According to the indictment, 42 victims in 21 states were targeted by criminal groups who used Medialand’s and ML.Cloud’s services.

U.S. travelers at airport

World

FULL LIST: 23 countries U.S. warns citizens not to visit

President Donald Trump’s administration listed 23 nations deemed too dangerous for U.S. citizens to visit.

11th National Conference of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto

Anti-Corruption

ICPC, EFCC ask scholars, students to lead Nigeria’s anti-corruption crusade

The ICPC chair has urged social science scholars and students to anchor anti-corruption crusades at all levels.