Demography, Health and Inequality: Basic Perspectives in the Life of Young Women

In this chapter the demography, family formation, health and related inequalities in the 14 DFL countries come to the fore. These issues touch upon the basic perspectives in life of girls and young women. As with other researchers (e.g., Levine et al. 2008, 2), our starting point is the contention that girls’ opportunities and prospects are fundamentally shaped by those closest to them. Recent years have seen the publication of a growing, sometimes overwhelming body of evidence on health and adolescents, and as mentioned in the first chapter, various new initiatives have clarified and improved the situation of adolescent girls and young women. Thanks to these initiatives and the statistical basis provided by the UN machinery, this chapter can examine fertility, life expectancy, child mortality, the adolescent fertility rate, early marriage and motherhood (see Box 2.1) and similar issues for the 14 countries. The focus then shifts to health risks relevant to young people, including HIV/AIDS, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and orphanhood due to the AIDS pandemic. As health is closely related to inequality and poverty, this chapter ends with a discussion of mobility out of poverty.