T

he United Nations Population Fund'€™s (UNPFA) latest study revealed that 16 million teenage girls aged below 18 gave birth worldwide in a year, while another 3.2 million opted for illegal abortions.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Pacific Sub-Regional office director Annette Sachs Robertson said teenage girls would likely miss a chance to develop their true potential if they had babies.

"They can't complete their education and they will find it hard to contribute to their families or even to themselves," she said as quoted by Kompas.com on Thursday.

The study was issued in observation  of  World Population Day, which falls on July 11 every year.

She said UNFPA had urged countries all over the world to help them break the teenage pregnancy circle by providing  proper education on reproduction and its physical and social impacts.

She said immediate action was needed given the fact that to date, 500 out of 600 million teenage girls worldwide were living in developing countries.

Separately, National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) chairman Fasli Jalal said during Indonesia'€™sWorld Population Day commemoration that  the BKKBN would increasetheir efforts in educating teens.

"We will intensively educate people by providing information onreproduction and health ," he said as quoted by Antara News Agency.

According to 2010 data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS),   27.6percent of Indonesia'€™s  population is  aged 10 to 24.

"This is a huge number and we should act now to manage it," he said.(fan/dic)