What are the countries with the lowest teenage pregnancy rates in the world? Or, in other words – where in the world teenagers are the most responsible concerning their sexual behavior? Let’s find out!
First, let’s see some statistics. Teen pregnancy rates seem to be declining in the last several decades. Concerning the US, for example, the teenage pregnancy rate declined by 63% during the period from 1990 to 2013. That is certainly a good thing, meaning that the younger generations are more aware of birth control methods, among which some are also effective in preventing STDs.
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But not all teen pregnancies end with the childbirth. Many teenagers are ending their pregnancies by abortion, which are oftentimes unsafe, and may lead to serious health consequences, including death. World Health Organization’s teenage abortion statistics in 2017 has shown that there are over 25 million unsafe abortions worldwide, but the majority of them (97%) occurs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Since you probably expect that the countries with the lowest teenage pregnancy rates are those the most developed (but we will see about that further down on the list), let’s first see which those 13 Countries with the Highest Teenage Pregnancy Rates in Developed world are. Here, you will also find some of the countries with the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe, such as Bulgaria, Romania or UK.
Now, on the matter of teenage pregnancy statistics worldwide 2017, it really is a fact that teenage pregnancies are the highest in the third world countries, such as Niger, Mali, Angola or Mozambique. The reasons for such a high number of teenage pregnancies in Africa lie in harsh social norms which often include forced child marriages, and, of course, gender discrimination and the lack of education for women. However, these are not the only reasons, since we have seen that teenage pregnancies are a common thing in the developed countries as well. Teenage pregnancy rates in developed countries are at high levels. For example, a research from 2001 has shown that around 22% of US women had a child before the age of 20, followed by the UK, with 15%, Canada 11%, and France with 6%.
But, returning to some more recent statistics, concerning teenage pregnancy statistics worldwide in 2018, we also did some research on 15 Countries with the Highest Teenage Pregnancy Rates in the World in 2018, so go ahead and check it out!
In order to see which the countries with the lowest teenage pregnancy rates in the world are, we first looked up for the information on World Atlas. It concerned mostly birth rates of all pregnancies. Then we searched for some more scientific data and statistics from the Journal of Adolescent Health. The end result showed the number of pregnancies per 1,000 adolescent girls (15-19 years), excluding the number of abortions.
Let’s see now, which countries with the lowest teenage pregnancy rates in the world are:
10. Montenegro
19 pregnancies per 1,000 girls
We are starting off with a small European country, that has among the lowest teenage pregnancy rates in the world. Turning the statistics in numbers, that is around 397 Montenegrian girls. But, nevertheless, there is only 1 abortion on average on this number.
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9. Lithuania
19 pregnancies per 1,000 girls
Even though the official data for Lithuania is not complete, it seems that the country has among the lowest teenage pregnancy rates in the world. Interestingly, most of these pregnancies end with birth, so the birth rate in Lithuania is on a high level, concerning teenage pregnancies.
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8. Croatia
17 pregnancies per 1,000 girls
Only 3 teenage pregnancies end up with abortion in Croatia, however, with 17 teenage pregnancies per 1,000 girls, this country is among the ones with the lowest teenage pregnancy rates in the world.
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7. Slovenia
14 pregnancies per 1,000 girls
Slovenia is a small country with low teenage pregnancy rates. Only around 700 girls get pregnant annually in this country.
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6. Singapore
14 pregnancies per 1,000 girls
And we come to the first Asian country whose teenage pregnancy rates are among the lowest. Only around 1,800 teenage pregnancies per year are recorded in this country annually.
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5. The Netherlands
14 pregnancies per 1,000 girls
Being among the countries with the lowest teenage pregnancy rates in the world, the situation in the Netherlands is getting even better it seems. The average number of teenage girls who gave birth at the beginning of the 21st century was 3,500, while in 2016 this number decreased to 1,492.
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4. Japan
13 pregnancies per 1,000 girls
Japan has around 38,500 teenage pregnancies per year. However, of average 13 pregnancies, 7 end up with an abortion.
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3. Hong Kong
10 pregnancies per 1,000 girls
Another Asian country which shows that teenagers are very aware of what they are doing. With around 2,100 teenage pregnancies per year, Hong Kong is among the top countries with the lowest teenage pregnancies in the world.
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2. Germany
9 pregnancies per 1,000 girls
Even though the low percentage of teenage pregnancies in Germany makes it one of the countries with the lowest teenage pregnancy rates in the world, in the real picture, those are around 24,000 teenage pregnancies annually in this country.
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1. Switzerland
8 pregnancies per 1,000 girls
It was maybe expected to find out that one of the most developed and the richest countries in the world is also the number one country with the lowest teenage pregnancy rates in the world. What is more interesting, most of these pregnancies 5 out of 8 end up with abortion.
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