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Around 40% of women under the age of 20 get pregnant according to the generic stats in the United States. About half these pregnant teens deliver the baby every year and about 45% of them undergo abortions. The adolescent age group between 18-19 years of age has the highest birth deliveries. In the year 1996, the age group of 18-19 years had about 86.5 births per 1000 women, whereas those who were aged 15-17 had around 38.7 births per 1000 women. Not many births were registered for women who were below 15 years of age; it was a negligible of 1.2 per 1000 women.
The pregnancy among teenagers varies in the United States across the racial lines due to several socio-economic factors unfortunately the minorities finding themselves. In the year 1991, the black teens were at higher risk of pregnancy. However in the year 1996, the pregnancy rate among teens who were between 15 and 19 years of age decreased to a percentage of 21 than compared to any other age group. There, however is a huge disparity between the birth rate of minorities and the white teens. In the year 1996, the pregnancy rate among black teenagers aged between 15 and 19 years was 91.7 births among 1000 women when compared to the white teens which were 50.1 births among 1000 women. The highest recorded statistic was that among the Hispanic teens. It was 105.5 births among 1000 women who were in the age group of 15-19 years.
In the year 2002, the pregnancy rates among teenagers hit the bottom in 30 years, with a decrease of 30% when compared to the peak rates in 1990. There was increased abstinence and exposure to various contraceptives contributed in the huge decrease. There was a drop of 28% between years of 1990 and 2002 in the number of teenage girls who had intercourse. There was a 30% decrease in the teenage pregnancy rates in 2002 when compared to the peak rates in 1991.
In spite of having a lowered birth rate among almost all age groups in the United States, the pregnancy among teenagers is still substantially higher than those of other industrialized countries. UK has the highest teenage pregnancy rates among all the European countries; however, the united States have twice as much as that of UK. Furthermore the teenage birth rates in The United States is four times more than that of Sweden and Spain, seven times higher than that of Switzerland and Denmark, and most of all it is 15 times higher than the birth rates in Japan.
Research has manifested that the sexual activity among teenagers in the above countries having lower teenage pregnancy rates is not different compared to that of the United States. According to experts, typically, this problem is twofold. The way, the United States treat sexuality among teenagers and the lack of dialogues on behaviors and thoughts concerning sex, fails to deal with issues relating to teenage pregnancy. Similarly, at times families of adolescents live in extreme poverty and hence these teenagers are denied to proper healthcare and right education.
