Nearly 30 % of young women in Latin America are mothers before they reach 20 years and the majority of them are underprivileged, which fosters the reproduction of poverty, hinders women's autonomy and their life projects, and underscores the need for public sex education and reproductive health services.
Out of every 1,000 girls aged 15-19 in Chile, 51 become pregnant and give birth to a child, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). These latest figures place Chile’s percentage below pregnancy rates for all other South American countries, but still far behind nations outside the region.