Approximating the Future Burden of Adolescent Fertility for Equatorial Guinea Using the Artificial Neural Network Technique

This study uses annual time series data on adolescent fertility rate for Equatorial Guinea from 1960 to 2020 to predict future trends of adolescent fertility rate over the period 2021 to 2030. The forecast evaluation criteria of the applied model indicate that the ANN (12, 12, 1) model is stable. The neural network model projections revealed that adolescent fertility will remain very high throughout the out of sample period. Therefore, we encourage the government of Equatorial Guinea to scale up awareness campaigns among communities, strictly enforce laws to protect women’s rights, promote girl child education, and provide funding for youth empowerment programs.