Local civil registration authorities raised alarm over the more than 45 percent increase in the number of young mothers that gave birth during the first quarter of this year.
Local Civil Registrar Luz Perez said there were 108 babies who were born to mothers aged 15 to 19 years, which is 45.94 percent higher than the 74 babies who were born by mothers of the same age bracket in the same period last year.
She said the youngest mother who gave birth is age 13 while the oldest is 46.
For the first quarter of this year, there were 1,379 live births recorded, which is a slight increase of 86 births or 6.65 percent compared to the 1,293 births during the first quarter of 2021.
Perez said there were more males who were born during the first quarter of this year with 701 compared to the number of females which was 678.
She said there were 29 births that were registered late, which also increased by 26.09 percent compared to the 23 late registered births during the first quarter of last year.
In terms of legitimacy, she said 48.08 percent of the reported births are said to be legitimate while 51.92 percent were children born out of wedlock during the first quarter of this year.
Perez said the number of children born out of wedlock exceeded the number of legitimate live births by 3.84 percent in the first quarter of this year as compared to 1.46 percent in the same period of 2021. – PIO release
