Conséquences socioéconomiques de la maternité précoce dans les pays en développement : résultats à partir des enquêtes démographiques et de santé

This paper provides a new evidence of the socioeconomic consequences of teenage birth in developing countries. Focusing on a multi-country analysis, it shows that teenage birth negatively affects women?s labor-market outcomes. In particular, teenage birth decreases the likelihood of participating in the labor force and working in the formal sector. We also show that teenage birth often occurs in context of lower income conditions and may be the result of poor educational and economic prospects. These results are consistent with the evidence reported by the previous literature: early childbearing has detrimental effects on female labor-market outcomes. As policy implications, efforts to improve the education level of the less-educated adolescents would lead to satisfactory results. Furthermore, specific interventions to change the mentalities and the persistence of some cultural practices would prove more effective in reducing teenage births. Codes JEL : J13, J24, O17.