Aust teen pregnancy rate too high: report

A new global report on childhood circumstances by Save the Children says Australia needs to do more to reduce its rate of teenage pregnancies.

Pregnancy

Migrant and refugee women still experience stillbirth at much higher rates than other women in Australia. Source: AAP

Australia has slightly improved conditions for vulnerable children over the past 20 years, but the country's teenage pregnancy rate remains too high.

A global report by nonprofit organisation Save the Children ranks Australia 15th overall for children's access to health care, education, nutrition and protection from harmful practices like child labour and child marriage.

The report says the world is making progress in dealing with "childhood enders" - life-changing events like child marriage, early pregnancy, exclusion from education, sickness, malnutrition and violent deaths.

"However there are still more than 690 million children who have been robbed of a childhood," Save The Children Australia chief executive Paul Ronalds said on Wednesday.

He said too many children suffered from conflict, from having to drop out of school and work to feed their families, and being forced into an early marriage.

Australia's ranking for teenage mothers sits about the same as Malaysia and Bahrain, but just below the United Kingdom.

One in four teenage mothers identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

The report said results for indigenous Australian children were troubling, as they are twice as likely to die during early childhood as non-indigenous children. They also have significantly lower school attendance rates.

Circumstances for children have improved in all but three of 176 countries since 2000, Save the Children said, but more than 30 million children had been displaced by conflict and war in 2017.


Share
Published 29 May 2019 6:04am
Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world