Women | Midwives and doctors told the Afghanistan Analysts Network they see more married, pregnant teenagers, linking early marriage to the ban on girls' schooling

ACW | November 1, 2026 — More married, pregnant teenagers are turning up at Afghan health facilities, midwives and doctors told the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) in a report published on Saturday, October 31.

The report, "More Births, Younger Mothers, Fewer Choices," says Afghanistan has the ninth-highest fertility rate in the world, making it an outlier in its region with birth rates similar to some sub-Saharan African countries.

With no recent official fertility data available, AAN asked midwives and doctors across the country what they were seeing in their facilities. "Most of the health professionals we heard from said they were seeing more teenagers, married and pregnant," the report said.

Health workers linked early marriage to the ban on girls attending school beyond sixth grade and the lack of prospects for professional work, according to AAN. Economic hardship also plays a role, the report said, as families receive a bride price and see one less mouth to feed as an advantage.

Women without jobs have less power to resist pressure from husbands, in-laws and society to have large families, the report said. Family planning services have weakened sharply amid donor funding cuts and Taliban budget decisions, it added.

Pregnancy risks rise sharply for adolescent mothers and for women with closely spaced pregnancies, and maternal healthcare has deteriorated over the past five years, according to AAN. No response from the Taliban caretaker government appeared in published reports.

Background: Afghanistan entered its fertility transition around 2000 as child mortality began to fall, and the average number of births per woman was declining under the former Islamic Republic, though the trend varied by province, education and urban or rural residence, AAN said. ACW earlier reported on the collapse in the number of women university lecturers.

Why it matters: Nearly half of Afghans are under 15, AAN said, and fertility declines usually persist, so a reversal would be unusual and would put more adolescent mothers at risk.

ACW will continue to follow this story.

Source: Afghanistan Analysts Network — More Births, Younger Mothers, Fewer Choices

Photo: Faruk Tokluoğlu, Pexels (illustrative)