The youngest grandmother in Bulgaria is just 28, Dr. Antonio Dushepeev, head of the maternity ward at the University General Hospital in Burgas said for the BNR. 149 underage girls gave birth at the hospital last year alone, the youngest of whom was only 11.

“The probability is huge that the child of a child, who has given birth to a child, will give birth at approximately the same age,” Dr. Antonio Dushepeev said further. Only 10% of the pregnant girls in this age bracket have an abortion, he said. “They want to be pregnant,” Dr. Dushepeev said and added that the tendencies will likely remain the same.

“The tendency is to keep the baby and for it to be raised by the parents of the child who gave birth – the grandparents. They have no knowledge of what is happening to their bodies and hardly ever go for a check-up,” said on his part Zahari Atanassov, chair of the National Network of Health Mediators working with disadvantaged ethnic minorities.

The average age of women at birth of first child in Bulgaria last year was 27.