Local civil registration authorities raised alarm over the reported more than forty five percent increase in the number of young mothers that gave birth during the first quarter of this year compared to those young mothers who gave birth during the same period last year.
Local Civil Registrar Luz Perez stated that during the first quarter this year, some 108 babies were born to mothers aged 15 to 19 years old, a 45.94 percent higher than the 74 babies born by mothers of the same age bracket during the same period last year.
She claimed that the youngest mother who gave birth is age 13 while the oldest is 46.
For the first quarter of this year, the local civil registrar stipulated there were 1,379 recorded live births, a slight increase of 86 births or 6.65 percent compared to the 1,293 births during the first quarter of 2021.
Further, Perez claimed there were more males born during the first quarter of this year with 701 compared to the number of females which was 678.
According to her, 29 births were registered late, also an increase by 26.09 percent compared to the 23 late-registered births during the first quarter of last year.
In terms of legitimacy, she explained that 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 stipulated that 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 2021 of the same quarter.