Opportunity cost of early childbearing: cross-country panel data analysis on female labor participation, secondary education, and adolescent fertility

This study tests the relationships between female secondary school enrollment, female labor force participation, and adolescent fertility across 107 countries. Using country and year fixed-effects models, lagged specifications, and regional heterogeneity tests, the study finds that female secondary school enrollment is consistently associated with lower adolescent fertility. Female labor force participation shows a less stable relationship in the full sample, suggesting that it should not be interpreted as a uniform indicator of women’s socioeconomic opportunity. The regional results suggest that the association between female labor force participation and adolescent fertility is more positive in Sub-Saharan Africa than in non-Sub-Saharan African countries. This shows the importance of labor-market and institutional context, especially where informal or insecure work is common. The findings point to the importance of school retention, reproductive health access, labor-market quality, and institutional capacity in policies aimed at reducing adolescent fertility.