Stann Creek Teen Birth Rate Hits 88 Per 1,000, Highest in Belize

Stann Creek has the highest adolescent birth rate in Belize, with 88 live births for every 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19, according to the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

Dr. Natalia Largaespada Beer, Technical Advisor for Maternal and Child Health at the Ministry, shared the figures at an information session for media houses during Latin American and Caribbean Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Week 2026.

She said the national average for 2025, based on the Ministry’s administrative data, is 38.8. The Ministry says an area above that average includes Stann Creek, the north and Toledo.

A 2024 survey puts Belize’s adolescent birth rate higher, at 58. Globally the rate is 44, and for the Latin American and Caribbean sub-region it is 50, Dr. Largaespada Beer said.

She said the birth rate is the number of live births per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19. She said the rate for girls aged 10 to 14 is very low in Belize and worldwide, which is why the 15 to 19 group is used.

Dr. Largaespada Beer said where adolescents live makes services harder to deliver. More than half of Belize’s adolescents live in rural communities, and about 80 percent of the country’s communities and villages have small birth cohorts. That means health workers must travel long distances to reach small numbers of young people.

She said urban areas have their own challenges.

She said adolescent birth rates are higher in countries with a lower development index, and the cycle can repeat itself in poor families.

“More than the development of the country is the impact on the mom, the adolescent girl, and the health consequences for the baby also.”

She said that if it happens in a family living in poverty, “then it’s just a repeat of that cycle of poverty.”