You may think that you know everything there is to know about teenage pregnancy in America but some of the facts may scare you. Check out some of the most eye-opening facts on teen pregnancy in the United States:
1. The U.S. has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world – twice as high as in England or Canada, and ten times higher than in Switzerland. This is not due to lack of education as sexual education as it is taught in all schools in the country. The scary fact is that teens are just not practicing safe sex even though they know better.
2. About 750,000 teens get pregnant in the United States each year. Nevada has the highest teen birth rate; 113 out of every 1,000 teens will get pregnant. Though the numbers may change slightly each year, but the fact is that many teens get pregnant each year and can’t take care of themselves or their babies.
3. About 1 in 3 women become pregnant at least once before they’re 20. What does the rest of their life look like when they start so young? Many believe that this statistic can’t be true but the numbers don’t lie.
4. A sexually active teen that does not use contraceptives has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within a year. Students are being taught safe sex and are even being given forms of birth control but this it isn’t making a difference.
5. 75% of girls and over half of boys report that girls who have sex do so because their boyfriends want them to. Pressure from peers and from being in a relationship continues to be the big reasons behind teen sex and the resulting pregnancies. This is so easy to prevent and yet the pressure is often too much for a teen to handle.
6. 8 in 10 girls and 6 in 10 boys say they wish they had waited until they were older to have sex. This sentiment is echoed time and time again, particularly when it has to do with an unplanned and often unwanted pregnancy. Many wish that they had waited but only realize this when it’s far too late!
7. Most teens (6 in 10) and adults (3 in 4) believe that teen boys often receive the message that they are “expected to have sex.” Can you imagine? Though you don’t want to believe that boys are conditioned to feel this way, the reality is that they still feel this on some level. It is our job as parents and adults to help break the cycle!
8. Two-thirds of teen pregnancies occur among teens 18-19 years old. That’s still too young to be welcoming a newborn! They are still kids themselves.
9. Teen mothers account for 11% of all births in the US. This is a rather large number when you realize most of these teen moms aren’t ready for motherhood.
10. Out of all teen pregnancies, 57% end in birth. The life ahead for teen mom and child is a long one and a very challenging in most cases.
It’s important to keep on educating our youth so that this phenomenon doesn’t continue for years to come.
