COMPARISONS from the Solomon Islands Demographic and Health Survey (SIDHS) 2006/07 and SIDHS 2015 indicate that teenage pregnancy is going down.

The recently launched SIDHS 2015 Report states that 12 percent of women in Solomon Islands aged 15 to 19 years old have begun childbearing, with nine percent of women having had a live birth and three percent pregnant with their first child.

“The percentage of young women who have begun childbearing has slowly declined for women aged 15 which is seven percent and women aged 17 at 11 percent in the SIDHS 2006-2007 compared with 0.6 percent of women aged 15, and 10 percent of women aged 17 according to the SIDHS 2015,” it informs.

This paper noted that this is an eight-year comparison.

The report adds that more adolescent women who have child bearing reside in rural areas with 13 than in urban areas with 10 percent. Across the regions, 16 percent women from Western Province have begun child bearing earlier than nine percent of young women in Honiara.

It founds that percentage of women who had begun child bearing at ages 15 to 19 decreased with level of education, from 32 percent of those with no education, to seven percent of those with secondary education.

“Similarly the proportion of women who had begun child bearing was lowest in the highest wealth quintiles with nine percent for the highest quintile and the fourth, compared with women in the lowest two wealth quintiles – 15 percent for the lowest quintile, 16 percent for the second.

The report noted that childbearing during teenage years also frequently has adverse social consequences, particularly on female educational attainment, because women who become mothers in their teens are more likely to curtail education.

It says early childbearing is also associated with higher fertility levels.

“Teenage pregnancy is a major health concern because of its association with higher morbidity and mortality for both the mother and child, and also its association with unprotected sex for young women, which leads to unwanted fertility and higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases.