Adolescent childbearing in Bangladesh

In recent decades, adolescent childbearing has emerged as an issue of increasing concern throughout the developing and the developed world (Jones, 1997; Shaikh, 1997; Islam and Mahmud, 1996). There is a growing awareness that early childbearing is a health risk for both the mother and the child. Also, it usually terminates a girl’s educational career, threatening her future economic prospects, earning capacity and overall well-being (United Nations, 1995). Thus, adolescent childbearing has significant ramifications at the personal, societal and global levels. At the personal level, childbearing at an early age can shape and alter the entire future life of an adolescent girl. From the perspective of societies and governments, adolescent pregnancy and childbearing have a strong and unwelcome association with low levels of educational achievement for young women, which in turn may have a negative impact on their position in and potential contribution to society. Usually, in both developed and developing countries, the rates of population growth are more rapid when women have their first child before they are in their twenties (Senderowitz and Paxman, 1985; Mazur, 1997). The period of adolescence encompasses the transition from childhood to adulthood during the second decade of life. It is one of the most crucial periods in an individual’s life, because during adolescence many key social, economic, biological and demographic events occur that set the stage for adult life.