So you’ve thought that only poor, undeveloped countries have issues with teen pregnancies and abortions, but take a look at the figures showing how many teenage pregnancies there are in a year in these 13 countries with the highest teenage pregnancy rates in developed world! You’ll be much surprised.
You can read about countries with highest teenage pregnancy rates in our article about 15 countries with the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the world in 2018, and indeed, these are very poor countries, struggling with many issues. Teenage pregnancy statistics worldwide show the shocking data. The first country from our list has 229 pregnant girls per 1000 teenagers. Even though some countries of the developed world have tens of thousands teenage girls expecting babies, the severity of the situation can’t be compared.
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Still, it’s surprising to think that teenage pregnancy rates in developed countries are high despite all the conditions which the Third World countries are lacking. First of all, there’s education. Rich, stable countries invest a big part of their budget in education the youth, and sexual education is definitely receiving funds. In addition, the living standard is high, so the cost of contraception can’t be said to be an obstacle. What is more, girls are encouraged to take care of their health and going to the gynecologist is perfectly common in teen years. How come then that so many teenagers are ending up pregnant? That’s probably what all these countries are asking when they look at, for instance, the highest teenage pregnancy rate by county.
Is the teenage pregnancy rate increasing? Well, supposedly the US can breathe a sigh of relief. Their teenage pregnancy statistics are showing a decrease in babies. For more details, check our article on 10 states with the highest teenage pregnancy rates in America. As for what country has the world’s lowest rates of teenage pregnancy, that would be Switzerland. Whatever their system is, they’re obviously doing something right since they’re famous for having low figures compared to other countries.
Let us present to you now what is the adolescent birth rate in industrialized countries around the world. First, we’ll start by saying that the most recent information isn’t the most reliable for one reason or the other. Usually, the sources would state those are estimations, or not enough data was collected. For this reason, after reading articles from IB Times and Rutgers, we turned to the Journal of Adolescent Health and its analysis of the situation worldwide. As mentioned before, the lowest teenage pregnancy rate in the world belongs to Switzerland, with only 8 teen pregnancies per 1,000 females. This study used only the complete statistics, so it was the best choice for our study. Secondly, we compared the number of teen pregnancies and the overall population of the country in question. Since the figures referred to 2008, 2009 and 2011, we compared them to the population number for that particular year. It should be stressed once again that this is the most trustworthy source since it takes a few years to obtain the results and do the research properly.
The population figures were found at Population Pyramid, the Guardian, and Office for National Statistics.
Finally, prepare to be surprised with our presentation of 13 countries with the highest teenage pregnancy rates in developed world. They are ranked from the lowest to the highest, though we didn’t bother you with percentages. Instead, we left the numbers showing annual teen pregnancies. It’s much easier to picture the situation that way, isn’t it?
13. Finland
Number of teen pregnancies: 3,700
According to the World Bank and adolescent fertility rates, the situation is much better than it was in the 1960s. However, almost 3,700 girls get pregnant every year.
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12. Norway
Number of teen pregnancies: 3,500
Their next-door-neighbor is in a similar position. 100 more pregnancies, but their population is a bit higher, too.
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11. France
Number of teen pregnancies: 47,900
Now, here is a serious number. Indeed, France’s population is over 60 million people, but still…
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10. Israel
Number of teen pregnancies: 6,800
Interestingly, Israel has one of the highest birth and fertility rates among developed countries.
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9. Iceland
Number of teen pregnancies: 300
It’s a tiny number compared to the others, but 300 pregnant teens is a lot when you think Iceland’s population is only a bit over 300,000.
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8. Sweden
Number of teen pregnancies: 9,000
According to teenage abortion statistics, 69% of teen pregnancies ended with abortion.
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7. Estonia
Number of teen pregnancies: 1,400
The colder it gets, the number keeps rising, or at least, so it seems to be the case with these 13 countries with the highest teenage pregnancy rates in developed world.
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6. Slovakia
Number of teen pregnancies: 5,900
Moving in the opposite direction now. As opposed to Sweden, only 17% of teens opt for abortions in Slovakia.
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5. Hungary
Number of teen pregnancies: 11,600
Hungary ranks 5th on our list of countries with the highest teenage pregnancy rates in developed world, and it is somewhere in the middle when it comes to abortions – 41%.
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4. Scotland
Number of teen pregnancies: 7,400
The UK seems to have a real problem, doesn’t it? Guess who comes right after Scotland.
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3. England and Wales
Number of teen pregnancies: 81,000
Indeed, England and Wales. Northern Ireland is missing to get the whole of the UK.
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2. New Zealand
Number of teen pregnancies: 7,900
The UK is outnumbered by its ex-colony, New Zealand.
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1. The USA
Number of teen pregnancies: 614,000
If you have already been familiar with the matter, then you definitely saw the US coming to the top of 13 countries with the highest teenage pregnancy rates in developed world. While Vox and other media are full of praise for teen birth rates plummeting, we deem it best to wait for a full report on pregnancies. A drop in births can mean there were simply more abortions, and not guarantee that fewer teen girls are becoming pregnant.
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