Teen pregnancy rate

Oswald asks how our high school preganacy rate compares to the one at Canton High, Ohio. Unless individual high schools or colleges keep data I don't think we know.

What is known - of the 15-19 year-old female population (est 151,050) there were 3,718 abortions and 4,138 births in 2005. This means the pregnancy rate per 1000 is 52. Factoring in miscarriage, which affects 15 - 20% of all pregnancies, the rate climbs to 59-62 per 1,000.

So at the upper range 6.2 percent of 15-19 year-olds will become pregnant each year.

The US high school pregnancy rate is 8.4 percent - the Canton School was double the national average. There is every chance that in our lowest decile schools the average rate is also double. So it isn't beyond the realms of reasonability to suggest that one in eight high school pupils might get pregnant in a given year at a given school.

(There were 115 births and abortions in the 11-14 year age band but they are not statistically significant. Also it is possible that some of the births and abortions in the 15-19 year age band were to the same individual but again I don't think these will make a significant statistical difference.)