Britain is worst in Europe for teenage pregnancy rates

Kay Brennan Leeds

Britain has the second highest teenage birth rate in the developed world, according to a new report from the United Nations.

The United States is the only country with a higher proportion of teenage mothers, with 52 per 1000 compared with 32/1000 in the United Kingdom. The lowest birth rates were found in Korea, Japan, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Sweden, where less than 7 girls per 1000 gave birth.

A league table of teenage births in rich nations, a report compiled by Unicef's Innocenti research centre in Florence, Italy, says the United Kingdom's rate is alarmingly high and blames the British culture of secrecy and embarrassment over sex. The report quotes one British teenager who told Tony Blair that, although contraceptive advice and services are formally available, "It seems as if sex is compulsory but contraception is illegal."

The findings support campaigners who believe there is a need for more sex and relationship education in the United Kingdom. "A more open approach to sexual conduct need not be value free," says Roger Ingham, director of the centre of sexual health at Southampton University.

Twenty eight developed nations were under review in the report, which aimed to analyse why some countries have teenage birth rates that are 10 or even 15 times higher than in others. Approximately 1.25 million teenagers become pregnant each year in the countries under review, with half a million seeking abortion and three quarters of a million becoming teenage mothers.

Only 50% of 16 year olds in the United Kingdom use contraception during their first sexual experience, and 25% believe the pill protects against sexually transmitted infections. This may partly explain the rise in gonorrhoea rates, up by 45% between 1995 and 1997. The average age of British youngsters losing their virginity has dropped in 40 years from 20 for men and 21 for women to 17 for both sexes.

The low birth rates in countries such as the Netherlands reflect their more open attitude towards sex and contraception. The "double Dutch" method of using the oral contraceptive pill and condoms may partly explain why Holland has a low rate of sexually transmitted infections that is continuing to fall.

Research for the Unicef report by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex in Colchester, United Kingdom, suggests that giving birth as a teenager is strongly associated with disadvantages in later life. Teenage mothers are twice as likely to live in poverty and be without a partner in their 30s, and three times more likely to be in a home where neither they nor a partner is working.



studentBMJ 2002;10:215-258 July ISSN 0966-6494