23% of the European Mothers Under 18 Are Romanian

Romania holds another unwanted record: almost a quarter of all the mothers from the EU who are not 18 yet are Romanian, according to a press release from Save the Children Romania. Statistics show that, in 2018, at the European level, more than 8,600 girls became mothers before 18.

The situation is concerning from another reason, apart from the lack of sexual education of the Romanian teenagers: only 2% of these girls who became mothers before becoming adults say they interacted with a social assistance service during their pregnancy and 64% already abandoned school before getting pregnant.

It seems there is a close connection between the education level of the girls and the chances for them to become mothers before adulthood. Even so, recently, there was a public debate in Romania regarding the idea of introducing sexual education in schools, with strong arguments from both sides.

In 2019 alone, in Romania, almost 10% of the women who gave birth were under 19 of age, with 700 girls who were not yet 15 when they became mothers.