Number of teenage mothers in the Netherlands halves in 10 years
The number of teenage mothers in the Netherlands has fallen for the fifth year in a row, and the total has halved in 10 years, according to an analysis of CBS figures by news service LocalFocus.
On January 2020 1,643 young women under the age of 20 had at least one child, almost half the 2010 total of 3,183, NOS quoted LocalFocus as saying.
The decline, according to sexual health organisation Rutgers, is due to having good access to contraception and the Netherlands’ ‘long tradition of providing sex education’. The number of teenage mothers fell in every province, LocalFocus said.
The province of Flevoland had the highest proportion of teenage mothers at five per 1,000. This could be explained by the large number of Antilleans living in Flevoland, who have a tradition of early marriage, NOS said.
In terms of cities, Rotterdam, The Hague and Almere also had a relatively large proportion of young mums.
According to figures from 2017, the Netherlands had the lowest rate of teenage mothers in the EU.
The average age a Dutch woman has her first baby is currently around 30.
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