Young mothers

In the United States the birth rate is much higher among adolescents than in other OECD countries. At the end of the 1990s it was 52 per mil in the US: Of 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 years, 52 gave birth to a child. Also in Great Britain and New Zealand there were many adolescent mothers. In contrast, the birth rates of teenagers were ten times lower in Japan, Switzerland and the Netherlands than in the United States. The birth frequency is correlated positively with the school leaving rate. And adolescent mothers are more likely than older mothers to raise their children alone and to be dependent on social welfare.