3 November 2008

The latest figures available for 2006 confirm the very large differences existing in levels of adolescent fertility across UNECE countries.

The adolescent fertility rate, that is the number of children born alive to women aged 15-19 per 1000 women aged 15-19, reaches highest levels in United States and Bulgaria (above 40 per 1000), but it is very high also in Georgia and Romania.

The lowest levels are recorded in Switzerland and Slovenia (less than 5 per 1000), and in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Cyprus and Italy (around 6 per 1000).

Slovenia is the country in the UNECE region where adolescent fertility decreased most rapidly over the last decades: the rate dropped from 56 per 1000 in 1980 to less than 5 per 1000 in 2006. In the same period adolescent fertility decreased significantly also in other UNECE countries, such as Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary and Iceland.

Source:UNECE Gender Statistics Database (www.unece.org/stats/data)

* Data refer to 2005.