The number of Filipinos aged 15 to 19 getting pregnant declined to 5.4 percent in 2022, data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
In its National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), the PSA said the 2022 number was a drop of 2.8 percentage points from 8.6 percent in 2017.
Most pregnancies were recorded among 19-year-olds at 13.3 percent, followed by 18-year-olds (5.9 percent), 17-year-olds (5.6 percent), 16-year-olds (1.7 percent) and 15-year-olds (1.4 percent).
The PSA said teenage pregnancies were more common among poorer Filipinos.
“In terms of wealth quintile, the percentage of teen women who have ever been pregnant decreases with increasing wealth quintile. About one in every 10 women aged 15 to 19 years in the ‘poorest’ quintile (10.3 percent) have ever been pregnant, while only 1.8 percent of women in the ‘wealthiest’ quintile have ever been pregnant,” it said.
The percentage of teenage pregnancy decreased as educational attainment increased, the PSA added.
The NDHS is conducted every five years. John Ezekiel J. Hirro