Teen pregnancies higher in India than even UK, US.

A still from the movie 'Juno', which dealt with teenage pregnancies.


Shocking as it sounds, teen pregnancy in India is high with 62 pregnant teens out of every 1,000 women. In comparison, 24 British teens get pregnant before their 19th birthday while the figure is 42 in the US.

I came across this article, 'Teen pregnancies higher in India than even UK, US' which states, that in India the reasons for teen pregnancies are, child marriage, illiteracy and high infant mortality. India’s neighbours Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal are also struck by similar problems with younger women getting pregnant, whereas the number of pregnant teens in Pakistan is much lower at 36.

Interestingly, this article states all facts and figures about teenage pregnancies in various countries and the reasons for it. The consequence of this unfortunate problem is the death of a large number of women, as they do not get proper care.

Personally, I feel that though India has come a long way, there are still a number of social evils that exist in its society. The country is not very open to certain issues such as sex education, which can be extremely helpful in avoiding teen pregnancies. At times, young girls do not even know that they are pregnant until the fifth month of their pregnancy.

Also, child marriage is another matter that has the Indian social structure messed up. Though, there has been a drastic decrease in this, the country still has a lot of work to do. Getting young girls married off and then forcing them to have children at such a young and innocent age, not only takes their childhood away from them but in many cases, it has taken the lives of many.

In a nutshell, I feel that all of us must stand up against such an unfortunate problem that has not only, India but the entire global society diseased.