We examine pregnancy incidence among adolescents (15–19 years old) and young adolescents (10–14 years old) in all developed and developing countries for which recent data on teen births and abortions could be obtained. Regional estimates for the developing world indicated that adolescent birth rates were especially high in Sub-Saharan Africa. At that time, the teen pregnancy rate in the United States was higher than in any other developed country for which estimates were available except Russia. Even where incidence is low, data on teen pregnancies can highlight remaining unmet needs for information and services to help adolescents prevent unintended pregnancies.Įarlier reviews of adolescent pregnancy and childbearing rates across countries covered trends up to the mid-1990s and found that these events were becoming less common in the majority of countries for which evidence was available. Countries with low levels of adolescent pregnancy might serve as references or models for efforts to reduce levels elsewhere. Ĭountry-specific estimates of pregnancy, birth, and abortion levels among adolescents can motivate policy and programmatic responses to teen pregnancies and help monitor progress toward reducing their incidence.
It appears that young adolescents are also more likely to experience obstructed labor, fistula, and premature delivery and to give birth to low birth weight babies than older women. The risk of death associated with pregnancy is about a third higher among 15- to 19-year olds than among 20- to 24-year olds. However, even intended pregnancies to young women in low-resource settings are of policy and public health relevance because of the risks associated with them. There does appear to be consensus, however, that teen pregnancies are associated with poor social and economic conditions and prospects.Ī substantial proportion of teen births are intended in developing countries where many women still marry early. Some studies have suggested that teen pregnancies compromise women’s educational prospects and economic opportunities, and other work indicates that teen pregnancies are a marker of such conditions, rather than an underlying cause of them. The causes and consequences of teen pregnancies have been the topic of much research, policy and program discussion, and debate.
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