Teenage pregnancies, Canada, 1975-1989

There were 19,000 fewer teenage pregnancies in 1989 than the 58,600 in 1975. The teenage pregnancy rate (pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15-19) declined 17.4% to 44.1 in 1989 from 53.4 in 1975. For 13 of the 15 years under study, both the numbers and rates of teenage pregnancies decreased year after year. Of teenage pregnancies in 1989, 58% resulted in live births, 36% in therapeutic abortions and 6% in other pregnancy terminations including stillbirths. The annual pregnancy rates for younger teenagers (15-17) were about 60% lower than the rates for older teenagers (18-19). In 1989, the teenage pregnancy rates for Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Quebec were lower than the national rate, while rates for Nova Scotia, Ontario and the four western provinces were higher.