A study has found Canada's teenage pregnancy rate is at an all-time low, and teen abortions have also dropped dramatically.
The study, published in Thursday's edition of The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, found that for teenagers aged 15-19, the total pregnancy and live birth rates declined every year from 1994 to 2003.
The induced abortion rate fluctuated within a narrow range but decreased overall between 1994 and 2003.
The teen birth rate declined from 35.7 per 1,000 in 1974 to 14.4 in 2003.
Data show 33,000 teens get pregnant each year, with 18,000 abortions in that age group. About 15,000 Canadian teens have babies each year.
Using 2006 data from Statistics Canada, the study noted that Nunavut had the highest pregnancy rate (118.8 pregnancies per 1,000). Northwest Territories was close to behind at 78.7. The lowest rates were in Prince Edward Island (23.4), Newfoundland and Labrador (26.0), and New Brunswick (26.0).
Alex McKay, research co-ordinator at the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada, said the teen pregnancy rate is falling because of contraception, particularly the pill, not because teens are having less sex.
McKay found the trends are similar to those in the United States and Britain, but notes Canada's teen pregnancy rate is about half of what it is in the U.S. or England and Wales.
The U.S. saw its rate per 1,000 drop from 103.6 in 1990 to 66.2 in 2002. In England and Wales, the birth/abortion rate per 1,000 women under age 20 declined from 68.0 in 1990 to 60.3 in 2004.
In Canada, the birth/abortion rate for women under age 20 declined from 38.3 per 1,000 in 1990 to 26.6 in 2003.
