An estimated 7.3 million girls under the age of 18 give birth every year, a report issued by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) found.

Of this number, 2 million are girls 14 or younger. These individuals, the report warns, suffer the most socially and physically as a result of pregnancy, including twice the risk of maternal death and obstetric fistula. The latter refers to a hole that develops in the vagina or rectum due to prolonged labor, and can lead to chronic medical problems.

Besides taking a heavy health toll, early pregnancy hurts a woman's education and rights, the UNFPA warns. In the case of the United States, for example, only half of the girls who become pregnant as adolescents complete high school by 22, compared to 90 percent of those who do not become pregnant.

Teenage pregnancy also comes with a steep economic price, according to the report. In the case of Kenya, had the more than 200,000 adolescent mothers joined the workforce rather than becoming pregnant, $3.4 billion could have been added to the economy. In the case of Brazil and India, $3.5 billion and $7.7 billion respectively would have been added to the nations' coffers if their women were able to wait until their early 20s before starting a family. Finally, the UNFPA estimates that pregnancy incurred during adolescence costs US taxpayers $11 billion annually.

Unlike reports in the past, the current one examines the role of families, communities and governments in early pregnancy, rather than the girls' behavior.

"Too often, society blames only the girl for getting pregnant," UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin said in a statement. "The reality is that adolescent pregnancy is most often not the result of a deliberate choice, but rather the absence of choices, and of circumstances beyond a girl's control. It is a consequence of little or no access to school, employment, quality information and health care."

The result is a series of steps the group says are key to helping young women wait before becoming pregnant. These include:

  •  Keeping girls in school
  •  Stopping child marriage
  •  Changing attitudes about gender roles and gender equality
  •  Increasing adolescents' access to sexual and reproductive health, including contraception
  •  Providing better support to adolescent mothers

"We must reflect on and urge changes to the policies and norms of families, communities and governments that often leave a girl with no other choice, but a path to early pregnancy," Osotimehin said. "This is what we are doing at UNFPA and what we will continue to do and recommend until every girl is able to choose the direction of her life, own her future and achieve her greatest potential."