Report: There Are 121 Million Annual Unintended Pregnancies Globally

Ugo Aliogo

The 2022 State of the World Population Report has estimated that between 2015 and 2019, there were about 121 million unintended pregnancies each year, with some 48 per cent of all the cases being unintended.

It also stated that 61 per cent of the unintended pregnancies ended in induced abortion.
The report which was titled: ‘Seeing the Unseen: The Case for Action in the Neglected Crisis of Unintended Pregnancy,’ was launched recently by the United Nations Population Fund, Resident Representative, Ms Ulla Mueller.

It revealed that though the rate of unintended pregnancy had declined, the global abortion rate was virtually unchanged and was estimated at 39 per 1,000 women of reproductive age in 2015–2019. The report further explained that globally, 29 per cent of all pregnancies, both intended and unintended combined ended in abortion, stating that this amounted to an estimated 73 million abortions per year on average, in 2015–2019, “where these abortions are unsafe, women risk short- and long-term morbidity and even death.”

The report noted that the steady abortion rate alongside the declining incidence of unintended pregnancy meant that the proportion of unintended pregnancies ending in abortion had increased since 1990–1994, from 51 to 61 per cent.

The report came one year after it was discovered that Nigeria records about 2.5 million cases of unintended pregnancy annually, pointing out that 19 per cent of married women and 48 per cent of unmarried women seek to postpone or delay childbearing.

According to the report, “The steady abortion rate alongside the declining incidence of unintended pregnancy means that the proportion of unintended pregnancies ending in abortion has increased since 1990–1994, from 51 to 61 per cent.

“Taken together, these findings suggest that women may be exercising moderately more autonomy over their reproductive outcomes, in the form of both pregnancy prevention and termination of unintended pregnancies, compared to women 30 years ago. This broad trajectory can be mapped alongside increasing availability of contraceptive options, gains in gender equity and improving indicators of development, generally speaking; both development progress and decreasing unintended pregnancy rates are found in the great majority of countries for which data are available.

“On a country or regional level, however, the proportion of unintended pregnancies ending in abortion varies widely. There is no discernible association between the national incidence of unintended pregnancy and the proportion of those pregnancies ending in abortion; in many places women tend to exercise reproductive choice in one way but not the other.

“The incidence of unintended pregnancy varies widely by region. There were about 35 unintended pregnancies annually per 1,000 women aged 15 to 49 years in Europe and North America, compared to 64 in Central and Southern Asia and 91 in sub-Saharan Africa, in 2015–2019. But there are wide disparities within regions, too. For example, the estimated unintended pregnancy rate was 49 in Niger but 145 in Uganda.

“Despite these intra-regional relationships between unintended pregnancy and lack of development, suggesting that more vigorous efforts to address unintended pregnancy could yield significant development benefits. Meanwhile, the proportion of unintended pregnancies ending in abortion varied widely, reflecting the wide diversity in cultural and legal environments around the world.

 “Countries (and territories) with higher levels of gender inequality, as measured by the GII, had higher rates of unintended pregnancy in 2015–2019, in both low- and middle-income countries and in high income countries.

“Notably, in Europe and North America, by 2015–2019, the unintended pregnancy rate had dropped to about half what it had been in the early 1990s, while in Southern and Central Asia and Latin America it fell by about one quarter (28 per cent). The rate also fell in sub-Saharan Africa, but only by about 12 per cent.
“In low- and middle-income countries, higher levels of social and economic development were associated with a higher proportion of unintended pregnancies being aborted (even after controlling for differences in the legal status of abortion). This finding lends itself to the hypothesis that, as opportunity costs,” it stated.