Teenage pregnancies in Australia are at all time low. According to latest figures, just 2.8 per cent of all births in country attributed to women aged 15-19. That puts Australia’s teen pregnancy rate lower than NZ and England
Teenage pregnancies in Australia are at an all time low with less than three per cent of all births in the country attributed to mothers aged 19 years and under.
According to the latest figures by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, women aged between 15 and 19 made up just 2.8 per cent of all births in 2015, compared to 3.1 per cent in 2014 and a staggering 24 per cent in 2005.
President of the Australian Young Pregnant and Parenting Network Lyn Allison said that Australia’s teen pregnancy rate still lagged behind other Western countries.
‘In some western European counties, their figure is half of ours and we can certainly improve and we know that it’s worthwhile to do so,’ she told the Canberra Times.
The teenaged fertility rate of 11.9 births per 1,000 women stacks up pretty evenly with Canada (at 11.1), but iss significantly less than New Zealand (18.5) and England and Wales (14.5).
Executive director of Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT Tim Bavinton told the publication there were a number of reasons for the declining birth rate.
‘It’s partly in effect due to better sex education and contraceptive information and schools are taking that job seriously now with the national curriculum,’ he said.
‘I don’t think we’ll see any substantial changes up or down in the trend.’
Beidar Cho from the ABS said the low share of births to teenage mothers in 2015 broke the previous record low of 3.1 per cent set in 2014.
‘The fertility rate for 30-34 year olds was the highest of all age groups, followed by 25-29 year olds,’ Ms Cho said.
The ACT had the lowest teenage pregnancies of any state at 1.28 per cent of all births, while the Northern Territory recorded the higest rate with 6.66 per cent.
Online Source: Daily Mail Australia.
