Teenage Pregnancy Facts

Teenage pregnancy is a sin for the society. In most of the developing countries, it is a result of the traditional values of early marriage, as it is considered that a young or teenage girl is more fertile than her adult counterpart. Also, due to the financial instability to take care of the girl child, people choose to marry them early. However, same is not the case in the developed nations. Though teenage pregnancy is rampant even there, the reason for the same is absolutely different. The sexual behavior of the teenagers is one of the major causes of the teenage pregnancy. In today’s scenario, having sex before the right age is in fashion. Teens get involved in sexual activities, without having a clear and detailed knowledge about it, which more than often results in adolescence pregnancy. Increased crime like rape and sexual abuse are also a major cause for teenage pregnancy. Intake of alcohol and drugs excite teenagers to involve in such activities. Unawareness of contraceptive options and safety methods is a major factor in the rise in teenage pregnancy. In the following lines some facts are given about the teenage pregnancy.

Facts About Teen Pregnancy

Out of every 10 women, 4 become pregnant before reaching at the age of 20, which gives the figure of about 1 million women teenage pregnancy. A large number of these pregnancies are unintended and some are to unmarried teens.
There is a huge decline in the teenage birth rate among black women since 1991. But the overall teen birth rate has been increased in the following years,
4 out of ten girls have intercourse at the age of 13 or 14, which is mostly unwanted or involuntary.
Three quarter of the teens in a million become pregnant under the age of 15-19 annually.
Teenage pregnancies contribute 11% of the total births in the United States in a year.
The highest rate of the teenage pregnancy around the world is in the United States, spending around $7 billion on the teenage pregnancy in a year.
Teenage mothers do not opt to get educated. They are less likely to go in any educational institutes.
Among the developed countries, United States have the largest number of teenage pregnancies. The rates of the teenage pregnancy in the US are twice the rate in England and Canada. Eight times higher than in Japan and Netherlands.
The rate started declining between 1991- 2005, but has been on the rise recently. A decline of 36% was calculated in 2002.
More than 90% of the children are born to women under the age of 20 in the developing countries. In a year, 13 million births are the result of teenage pregnancy according to a recent study.
U.S with the highest percentage of teenage pregnancy, also leads in the highest number of abortions in a year.
One-third of the total girls who become pregnant, keep their baby and give birth to the child. Another one-third goes for abortion and while one-third have miscarriages.
It is seen that poor teenage women are most likely become teenage mothers.
The children of teenage mothers have lower birth weights, are more likely to perform poorly in school, and are at greater risk of abuse and neglect.

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