Teen mums in Cyprus well below EU average

At 2.4 per cent, Cyprus has among the lowest rate of teenage mothers within the EU, Eurostat reported on Thursday.

The EU average for first births by women under the age of 20 was 3.7 per cent in 2017.

The highest percentage of young mother was recorded in Bulgaria and Romania, at nearly one in eight or around 12 per cent, followed by Hungary (8.5 per cent) and Slovakia (8.1 per cent).

In contrast, young mothers accounted for less than two per cent of first births in Denmark (1 per cent), Italy and Slovenia (both 1.1 per cent), the Netherlands (1.2 per cent), Luxembourg and Sweden (both 1.4 per cent).

According to Eurostat, there were a total of 4,254 first live births in Cyprus in 2017.

None were born to girls up to the age of 14, 104 to the age group from 15 to 19 and 531 to those aged 20 to 24.

Most children were born to mothers aged 25 to 29 and 30 to 34, at 1,417 and 1,520 respectively. Another 542 newborns had mothers aged 35 to 39.

This is similar to other EU member states. In the EU in 2017, the majority of first births (92 per cent) were to women aged between 20 and 39 years old.

Some 118 babies in Cyprus were born to mothers aged 40 to 44 and 16 to 45 to 49-year-old women. A mere six newborns had mothers aged 50 and over.

In the EU, an average of around four per cent of women who gave birth to their first child were 40 years old or older.

The highest proportions were registered in Spain (8.8 per cent of total births of first children in 2017) and Italy (8.6 per cent), followed by Greece (6.6 per cent), Luxembourg and Ireland (both 5.9 per cent).

At the other end of the scale, less than two per cent of first-time births to women aged 40 or over were recorded in Lithuania (1.3 per cent), Poland (1.4 per cent), Slovakia (1.5 per cent) and Latvia (1.8 per cent).

The post Teen mums in Cyprus well below EU average appeared first on Cyprus Mail.

Read more → https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/08/01/teen-mums-in-cyprus-well-below-eu-average/