Sexual and Reproductive Health of Adolescents and Youth in Cambodia: Analysis of 2000-2014 Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey Data

Cambodia has the youngest population in Southeast Asia, with 22 % aged 15 and 24 years. Young people face many sexual and reproductive health concerns such as sexually transmitted infections, unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortion, STIs, HIV and AIDS. These health concerns are exacerbated by the lack of sexual and reproductive health information, knowledge, youth friendly services, poor education attainment (i.e. low school enrolment, high dropout rates, and high repetition rates), and rural to urban migration for employment often placing young people at a social and economic disadvantage, especially those living in rural areas. Limited information is available about the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and youth in Cambodia, and information that is available generally relates to sub-populations.

The aim of this report was to describe the current state of the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and youth in Cambodia and this was achieved through the analysis of data on young women aged 15-24 years from the four Cambodian Demographic and Health Surveys (CDHS) conducted in 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2014.