Working Paper
Reducing early pregnancy in low-income countries

Many adolescent girls in low-income countries face the challenge of early pregnancy and lifelong dependence upon family and partners. In this paper, we review the literature on field interventions aimed at reducing early pregnancies in low-income countries and report from a randomized control trial in rural Tanzania.

From an analysis of more than 3,000 essays written by adolescent girls about their hopes for the future, we find that health training and entrepreneurship training affect two key mechanisms determining early pregnancy, namely internal locus of control and economic opportunity.