Early Childbearing and Adolescent Reproductive Health Worldwide, women aged 15 to 19 give birth to roughly 17 million of the 131 million children born each year. Women in this age group have ten percent of all abortions.
Adolescents tend to delay seeking abortion, thus increasing the risks of the procedure.
Teen pregnancy often further limits girls' options by driving many out of school. The Reproductive Risk Index scores each country on the annual number of births per 100 women aged 15 to 19. Teen birthrates are highest in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where more than one in five girls aged 15 to 19 give birth each year. The lowest rates are in Japan, the Koreas, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland, where fewer than one in 100 girls give birth annually. Sexual activity and chilbearing early in life carry significant risks for young people all around the world.