A girl aged 14 or less gave birth every 37 minutes last year in Brazil. There were 14,265 births by girls in this age group in 2022, according to data from the Health Ministry. The figures far exceed the global average: Brazil has 53 pregnant teenagers per 1,000, compared to 41 worldwide.
Although it is a high rate, the number of cases has been steadily decreasing in the last few years. They have fallen by half over the last decade as a result of health and sexual education policies, which still face resistance in a society in which it is relatively common to see young girls having relationships with older men and in which cases of sexual violence mainly affect children.
Brazil is the fifth country in the world in child marriages. According to NGO Girls Not Brides, around 36 percent of the Brazilian female population under 18 years old are married or live in a stable union. An example of how normalized this dynamic can be: Caetano Veloso, one of the most famous modern Brazilian singers, started dating his current wife when she was 13 and he was 40.
Half of the cases of sexual violence against minors are faced by girls aged between 10 and 14. More than 1,300 cases involving this age group alone are recorded each month — although most cases go unreported.
According to a 1940 law still standing, any sexual relationship with people up to 14 years old falls under the Brazilian definition of statutory rape — one of the few circumstances in which an abortion is allowed. In addition to rape, the law also allows pregnancy terminations when the mother’s life is in jeopardy or for anencephalic fetuses.
However, the reduction in cases of pregnant girls in the last decade is not directly linked to more abortions — at least considering those carried out within the law. Legal abortions of girls aged 14 and under quadrupled between 2011 and 2020, but still remain a tiny fraction of the...
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