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A girl in Spain has become one of the world's youngest mothers after giving birth at age ten.
She had a child weighing 6lb 6oz during a natural birth last week at a hospital in Jerez de la Frontera, in the southern region of Andalusia.
Both mother and baby have been allowed out of hospital and are in perfect health, but social services are studying the case.
Commonplace: A 10-year-old, reportedly of Romanian descent, gave birth in a Spanish hospital last week, with her mother claiming it was common for girls that young in her country
Scene: The hospital in the southern town of Jerez where the girl gave birth
Local media said the girl is a Romanian immigrant who arrived in Spain already pregnant.
The girl's mother told hospital staff she was happy about the birth, which she described as ‘something common in my country.’
Micaela Navarro, the Andalusia region's social affairs minister, said they only became aware of the case from hospital staff three days after the birth.
She said: ‘The important thing is that both mother and baby are cared for perfectly.
‘If that is the case, they can remain in the family environment, which is what we are checking at the moment.’
If not, the young mother and her child could be looked after by a grandparent or aunt or uncle, she said.
Navarro told reporters the father of the baby is also a minor, and both the mother and the baby were in good health.
Her department declined to give details, including the sex of the baby, but said authorities do not consider this a case of rape and that no criminal investigation is under way.
Under Spanish law, having consensual sex with someone under age 13 is classified as child abuse, an official with the Spanish Justice Ministry in Madrid said.
But this particular case is complicated by the fact that the father of the baby is also a minor and it is not clear if he could be charged, the official said.
The girl gave birth in Jerez Hospital on October 26 and was allowed home over the weekend.
A hospital source said: ‘The girl's mother told us the girl lived with her boyfriend in her home country.
‘There are girls who can appear older than they are, but in this case the girl is just that: a girl.’
Britain's youngest mother, Tressa Middleton, from Armadale, West Lothian, gave birth aged 12 in 2006.
Medical experts warn that because young girls are still growing, they are at higher risk during pregnancy.
Studies have shown that teenage girls are more likely to give birth to premature babies and their infants have a higher chance of dying by the age of one.
Earlier this year, a 9-year-old schoolgirl in northeast China gave birth to a healthy baby boy. In 2008, another 10-year-old girl in Idaho, who got pregnant at age 9, carried a baby to term. And back in 1939, as TIME reported, Lina Medina of Peru, became pregnant at the age of 5 years, 8 months, and became a mother by age 6 years, 5 months.
Spanish newspapers are reporting that according to the mother of the young girl who gave birth last week, a first pregnancy at age 10 is not uncommon in their native country of Romania. Although we could not find find exact figures for births to children in that country or elsewhere, it is of course well known that teen motherhood is not unusual: the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 10% of girls in low- and middle-income countries become mothers by the age of 16, and 11% of all births worldwide are to mothers age 10 to 19.
Source: Associated Press / Time / MailOnline
