Prevalence of teenage pregnancy

The Western world and the non-Western world have distinctly different rates of teenage pregnancy. In the Western world such as the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, teen parents tend to be unmarried, and adolescent pregnancy is seen as a social issue. By contrast, teenage parents in the non-Western world such as Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific Islands are often married, and their pregnancy may be welcomed by family and society. However, in these societies, early pregnancy may combine with malnutrition and poor health care to cause long-term medical problems for both the mother and child. A report by Save the Children found that, annually, 13 million children are born to women under age 20 worldwide. More than 90% of these births occur to women living in developing countries. Complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of mortality among women between the ages of 15 and 19 in such areas, as they are the leading cause of mortality among older women. The age of the mother is determined by the easily verified date when the pregnancy ends, not by the estimated date of conception. Consequently, the statistics do not include women who first became pregnant before their 20th birthdays, if those pregnancies did not end until on or after their 20th birthdays.

Rates by continent

Africa

The highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the world—143 per 1,000 girls aged 15–19 years—is in sub-Saharan Africa. Women in Africa, in general, get married at a much younger age than women elsewhere—leading to earlier pregnancies. In Nigeria in 1992, 47% of women aged 20–24 were married before 15, and 87% before 18. 53% of those surveyed had given birth to a child before the age of 18. In 2002, African countries had the highest rates of teenage birth. In 2015, the highest incidence of births among 15- to 19-year-old girls was in Niger, Mali, Angola, Guinea, and Mozambique. In Mozambique, in 2015, 46% of girls aged 15 to 19 years were already mothers or pregnant, an increase of 9% between results found on the National Demographic Health Survey in 2011 and National Survey on HIV, Malaria and Reproductive Health (IMASIDA) 2015. With the exception of Maputo, the capital city, all provinces presented an increase in the percentage of early pregnancies. The rates are particularly higher in the northern provinces, namely, Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa with 64.9%, 61.3% and 60%, respectively. A 2004 Save the Children report identified 10 countries where motherhood carried the most risks for young women and their babies. Of these, 9 were in sub-Saharan Africa. Niger, Liberia, and Mali were the nations where girls were the most at-risk. In the 10 highest-risk nations, more than one in six teenage girls between 15 and 19 years old gave birth annually, and nearly one in seven babies born to these teenagers died before the age of one year.

Asia The rate of early marriage is higher in rural regions than in urbanized areas. Fertility rates in South Asia range from 71 to 119 births with a trend towards increasing age at marriage for both sexes. In South Korea and Singapore, although the occurrence of sexual intercourse before marriage has risen, rates of adolescent childbearing are low at 4 to 8 per 1,000. The rate of early marriage and pregnancy has decreased sharply in Indonesia. However, it remains high in comparison to the rest of Asia. Surveys from Thailand have found that a significant minority of unmarried adolescents are sexually active. Although premarital sex is considered normal behavior for males, particularly with prostitutes, it is not always regarded as such for females. Most Thai youth reported that their first sexual experience, whether within or outside of marriage, was without contraception. The adolescent fertility rate in Thailand is relatively high at 60 per 1,000. 25% of women admitted to hospitals in Thailand for complications of induced abortion are students. The Thai government has undertaken measures to inform the nation's youth about the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancy. In 1998, in several Asian countries including Bangladesh and Indonesia, a large proportion (26–37%) of deaths among female adolescents were attributed to maternal causes.

Australia

In 2015, the birth rate among teenage women in Australia was 11.9 births per 1,000 women. The rate has fallen from 55.5 births per 1,000 women in 1971, probably due to ease of access to effective birth control, rather than any decrease in sexual activity.

Europe The overall trend in Europe since 1970 has been a decrease in the total fertility rate, an increase in the age at which women experience their first birth, and a decrease in the number of births among teenagers. The rates of teenage pregnancy may vary widely within a country. For instance, in the United Kingdom, the rate of adolescent pregnancy in 2002 was as high as 100.4 per 1000 among young women living in the London Borough of Lambeth, and as low as 20.2 per 1000 among residents in the Midlands local authority area of Rutland. Teenage birth is often associated with economic and social issues such as alcohol and drug misuse. In 2001, across 13 nations in the European Union, women who gave birth as teenagers were twice as likely to be living in poverty, compared with those who first gave birth when they were over 20.

Bulgaria and Romania Romania and Bulgaria have some of the highest teenage birth rates in Europe. In 2015, Bulgaria had a birth rate of 37 per 1,000 women aged 15–19. Romania had a teen birth rate of 34 per 1,000 women aged 15–19. Both countries also have very large Romani populations, who have an occurrence of teenage pregnancies well above the local average. In recent years, the number of teenage mothers is declining in Bulgaria.

Netherlands The Netherlands has a low rate of births and abortions among teenagers, with 5 births per 1,000 women aged 15–19 in 2002. Compared with countries with higher teenage birth rates, the Dutch have a higher average age at first intercourse and increased levels of contraceptive use, including the "double Dutch" method of using both a hormonal contraception method and a condom.

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