Negative Impacts of Teenage Pregnancy in the Philippines
Early pregnancy is one of the pressing issues Filipino youths are facing today. The Philippines has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates among the ASEAN member states despite the decrease of total live births of teenage mothers (aged 10-19) in 2016 (203,085) to 183,000 in 2019. According to the Commission on Population and Development (PopCom), the Philippines has recorded a 7% increase in births among girls aged 15 and below in 2019. Filipino minors who gave birth in 2019 increased to 62,510 from 62,341 in 2018. In 2019, 2,411 very young adolescents aged 10 to 14 gave birth, or almost seven every day. One in three births among minors occurred in the three regions of Calabarzon with 8,008, National Capital Region with 7,546, and Central Luzon with 7,523 births. Outside Luzon, the highest number of minors who gave birth were in Northern Mindanao with 4,747 cases, Davao Region with 4,551, and Central Visayas with 4,541. Early childbearing may result in poor health outcomes and may ...