History of teenage pregnancy

It started from the colonial era onward. Childbearing occurred frequently in the US before the twentieth century even. 1900’s 1930’s By 1900, the timing of marriage and parenthood rose as the country became industrialized. Due to the mass production of WW2, women became more independent and worked rather than starting families right away. 1900’s During the 1950’s and early 1960’s, the issue concerning rates of teenage pregnancy emerged when they reached a historical peak and public obsession. 950’s Due to the postwar ” baby boom,” most young women were having premarital sex which increased the demand for public assistance and services to single mother. Teenage pregnancy was normal in previous centuries, and common in developed countries in the 20th century. Among Norwegian women born in the early 1950s, nearly a quarter became teenage mothers by the early 1970s. However, the rates have steadily declined since that 20th century peak.

Among those born in Norway in the late 1970s, less than 10% became teenage mothers, and rates have remained stable and lower since then. Perhaps the most famous teenage pregnancy in history was Mary, Mother of Jesus. She is generally believed to have been 13 years old when she gave birth to Jesus. [99] Other sources place her age as high as 15 years. Hildegard of Vinzgouw, the wife of Charlemagne was about 14 years old when she gave birth to her first son in 772 CE.

The mother of Henry VII of England was 13 years old when she gave birth to him in 1457. Maria of Tver, the wife of Ivan the Great of Russia, gave birth to her first son when she was about 16 years old, in 1458. Empress Teimei of Japan was 16 years old when she gave birth to Hirohito in 1901. Lina Medina of Peru holds the world record for youngest live birth: She was five years, seven months old when she gave birth in 1939.