Concerns about teenage moms

STATISTICS South Africa (Stats SA) has raised concerns about the increasing number of teenage mothers in 2021.

It said more than 60 percent of the births registered in the country were done without the details of the children’s fathers.

“However, this is expected to change in the coming years as in September 2021 the Constitutional Court ruled that this section of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act is unconstitutional. This means unmarried fathers can now have their information registered in the birth certificate of their children at the Department of Home Affairs.”

“Of note was the increasing number of teenage mothers in 2021. A total of 45 257 births were from mothers aged 17 years and younger, and of these, 42 were births from mothers between the ages of 11 and 12,” Stats SA reported.

Stats SA also reported that birth registrations remained high in most populated provinces, with Gauteng at 21.4 percent, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 20.4 percent. — Citizen.co.za