Despite a successful ten year strategy to reduce teenage pregnancies implemented by the Labour Government between 1999 and 2010, the UK still has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Western Europe (only Greece had a higher rate in 2017) (Office for National Statistics, 2017).
Preventing Child Marriage in the Commonwealth: the Role of Education is the latest in a series of reports written by the Royal Commonwealth Society and Plan UK as part of our collaboration to end child, early and forced marriage in the Commonwealth.
In response to the recommendations from the Scottish Parliament’s Health and Sport Committee’s Inquiry into Teenage Pregnancy in 2013, the Scottish Government
This reports’objective is to assess the work directed at reducing unplanned teenage pregnancy and to look at what else can be done to support young people at risk of pregnancy or who have a child very young.
Although the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia are not affected to the same extent as other world regions, adolescent pregnancy is a major challenge in parts of the region, and in particular among some population groups.
This report is a call to decision makers, parents, communities and to the world to end child marriage. It documents the current scope, prevalence and inequities associated with child marriage.