More than 600 girls aged 9 and 10 gave birth in South Africa in 2020

According to Statistics South Africa, 899,303 babies were born in 2020, and of those 34,587 were born to girls aged 17 and younger.

“Of the 34 587 births from teen mothers, 16 042 were aged 17, while 688 were [9 and] 10 years young. Early pregnancy and motherhood in South Africa create a greater risk in terms of maternal complications, resulting in low survival rates of babies, and forces many girls to prematurely take on an adult role which they are not emotionally or physically prepared for,” said Stats SA.

Statistics for the recorded live births in 2020 were released on Thursday, showing that 1,003,307 births were registered in South Africa.

“Of these, 899 303 (89.6%) were births that occurred and were registered in 2020 (current birth registrations), while 104 004 (10.4%) were births that occurred in previous years but were registered in 2020,” said Stats SA.

“In 2020, no reliable information on fathers could be provided due to a high proportion of births (more than 60%) being registered without details of fathers.