Teenage Pregnancy in the Bahamas

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Teenage pregnancy in the Bahamas
Every society is affected by teenage pregnancy which is a multifaceted problem that can pose social, economic and health issues. Teenage pregnancy inadvertently contributes to the escalating volume of single parent families in the Bahamas. According to the Department of Statics a single parent home is considered to be a home in which the parents are not married. Although the birth rate fluctuates, births to single mothers have escalated over the past forty years in the Bahamas from 29% (1970) to 62% (2009). Births to single mothers however remain the largest natural increase annually to the Bahamian population. Teenage pregnancy has increased the number of single parent homes, which have had adverse effects on the family and society of the Bahamas.
Over the last 40 years 22,880 teens under the age of 20 had live births in the Bahamas; this number does not include teenage girls who have terminated their pregnancies or have had still births less than 1% of these teens are married, each of the 22,880 births contributes to the escalating amount of single parent homes in the Bahamas.

Year Total Births Total teen Births % of Teen Births Age Group of Mothers
10-14 15-19 Born in Wedlock Born out of wedlock
1975 3983 679 17% 11 668 164 515
1980 5099 1107 21.7 22 1085 100 1007
1990 6117 763 12.5 13 750 7 756
2000 5287 580 11.0 20 560 42 538
2005 5548 540 9.7 8 532 23 517
2006 5296 563 10.6 14 549 18 545
2007 5854 610 10.4 6 604 23 587
2008 5480 617 11.3 10 607 22 595
2009 5348 532 9.9 5 527 20 512
2010 5362 533 9.9 5 528 10 523

The above chart shows the total births for 1970-2010, the total births to teens the percentage of teens for the year the age group and the marital status. Over t...

... middle of paper ...

...re 22% more likely to become teen mothers

Works Cited

Bahamas, DepartmentofStatics." Legitmacy Birth Reporth." Web. Nassau Bahamas: Government printing, 20012. 16 September 2013. .
Gibson, Adrian. "Condoms for schools in the Bahamas." Tribune (2008). Web. 20 September 2013. < http://www.weblogbahamas.com/blog_bahamas/2008/07/condoms-for-sch.html>.
Smith, Susan Roberts-. "Teenage Pregnancy in the Bahamas:Trends and Characteristics." The Yale Journal of Biology and medicine (1984): 273-281. Web. 10 September 2013. .
Swierzewki, Stanley J.III MD. "Teen Pregnancy & Health Risks to the Baby." Teen Pregnancy (2000). Web. 23 September 2013. .

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