Nicaragua leads teen pregnancy

Adolescent pregnancy levels in Central America are higher than world average

Although it has reduced pregnancies among girls aged 15 to 18 years by 25% since 2000, Nicaragua remains the Central American country with the highest rates of births to underage mothers - 88 per 1,000, according to the 2017 Estado de la Región.

With a rate of 56 per thousand, Costa Rica has the region’s lowest fertility rates in the same age range.

At 70 births for every 1,000, adolescent pregnancy levels in Central America overall are higher than the world average of 45 births per 1,000.

Data was collected between 2000 and 2015 among the six Central American countries (number in brackets indicate birth rate of each nation for every 1,000 women aged 15 to 18).

1 Costa Rica (56)
2 Honduras (64)
3 El Salvador (65)
4 Panama (74)
5 Guatemala (80)
6Nicaragua (88)