Bangkok: - The country’s age group for first sexual experience has dropped from 18-19 to 15-16 years old and the problem of adolescent mothers is on the rise, the Public Health Ministry official said.

“Based on the World Health Organisation report, the country has the second highest number of teenage births among Asean countries,” Dr PanpimolWipulakorn said.

The number of Thai adolescent mothers trail only behind those in Laos.

Of about 800,000 births per year given by young women, 200,000 are from unplanned pregnancies of adolescent mothers, aged 15-19.

The country’s rate for teen pregnancy should be 50 per 1,000 young women. But the present rate is 52 per 1,000 young women. In certain areas, the number leaps to 75 per 1,000.

A worrisome trend is 20 per cent of mothers under the age of 20 have already had repeat pregnancy for the second or third time.

Another concern is the increasing number of adolescent mothers under the age of 15.

The Public Health Ministry has launched awareness campaign designed to lower teen pregnancy.

The campaign is centred on two-prong strategy –ensure the accessibility to condoms and revise sex education to enable the youths to resolve their sexual issues.

“We should accept the fact that we cannot prohibit our children from engaging in sexual activities. What we can do is to give them proper education about sex,” Panpimol said.

In the last month’s survey of 3,000 teenagers, almost one in ten said they would not use condom in casual sex with different partners.

Here in the village it's genuinely shocking how many youngsters have had one or more kids whilst still a teenager and in almost every case the dad is nowhere to be seen.

Sex education should not be the taboo it seems to be and idiots such as the guy refusing to install condom machines in schools should be roundly condemned as the dinosaurs they are.

“We should accept the fact that we cannot prohibit our children from engaging in sexual activities. What we can do is to give them proper education about sex,” Panpimol said." No shyt Sherlock.

...and all because of Valentine's Day!

Just think what the real total is.

The culture of having kids look after parents doesn´t help either.

Make the fathers pay and then there would be more responsibility too !!

20 year old bar girls with 3 kids living with Mom or the Grandmother and 4 different fathers, what a great start to life...

Education has failed in Thailand on so many levels and this unfortunately is one of the consequences of a failed system. Of course one may not be able to stop teenage pregnancies however education may make them think a little more before acting.

The number of Thai adolescent mothers trail only behind those in Laos.

Too bad the hub of "Thainess" and high moral standards missed the pole position again...

Come on kids! With a little more effort we can beat out Laos for that number one spot.

...and all because of Valentine's Day!

Should be a great boom of babies in November, then.

Thats the answer to all the hypocrites in the thai cultural/education environment... you terribly failed and all you did is fake, fake, fake... wake up and change!

lots of mums and many run away dads . Many girls turn to bar girl work to support their children.

It's ok, mai pen rai, baby nar-rak, mama take care for me

Free school lunches lowers birth rates.

Huh?

yup, you read it here, so it must be right.

In Bangladesh some years back, the government decided to raise the nutritional value of the meals school children were getting, by starting up a free lunches at schools.

As girls usually did not attend school after a few years, and it was considered more important for boys to get an education, it came as a surprise to government officials to find that girls were being sent to school so they had at least one nutritious meal a day.

The benefits of course were that the girls started learning more about the facts of life, along with an education, and the number of teen pregnancies dropped, and the age of marriage rose. There was a marked drop in the population explosion.

It seems to me the age old problem here is hormones + poor education in reproduction (O.K. - sex education).

Time the education departments here had a wake-up call and joined the 21st century. Contraceptive pills and condom machines have been around a mighty long time in the modern world.

I feel certain that young Thai males will step up to the challenge to make Thailand number one in teen pregnancy...

The consequences are so apparent...young Thai women coping with trying to raise a family by themselves...sad...

So far, so good. My teenage daughter attends the same school my wife attended. It is co-ed and very strict. they have provided appropriate education on sexual matters and we discuss them at home.

I'm not being smug but as I said, so far, so good! My little girl is very aware that her Daddy remembers what "he was like at the age of 15 or so" and will do all in his power to protect her from young lads with the same Intent that he had at that age.

My wife has two Adult Daughters, both married and both very responsible young women. We just hope and pray that our "little Princess" turns out even half as good as the other girls.

Keep trying Thailand you'll get the no1 slot sooner or later

Any idea why the statistics in the above article don't match up with page 3 of this พมจ report? The number of births in the article are double what this report shows.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2054rank.html

For the record, Thailand's birthrate is lower than countries like Britain, France and China.

Thailand is 175th in the world birth-rate league table. France, UK and China are 159, 160 and 163 respectively.

So far, so good. My teenage daughter attends the same school my wife attended. It is co-ed and very strict. they have provided appropriate education on sexual matters and we discuss them at home.

I'm not being smug but as I said, so far, so good! My little girl is very aware that her Daddy remembers what "he was like at the age of 15 or so" and will do all in his power to protect her from young lads with the same Intent that he had at that age.

My wife has two Adult Daughters, both married and both very responsible young women. We just hope and pray that our "little Princess" turns out even half as good as the other girls.

I think in your case it is clear that the school is not the reason that your step daughters turned out the way they did. And your daughter will probably turn out as well having apparently two responsible parents raising her. Education only goes so far, ultimately it's the parents that determine the child's fate.

My gf said teen pregnancy is because of American movies. Lol

Why is it so hard to put on a condom for a teenager? They can't afford it?

Just goes to show that the main money making industry in Thailand will have no shortage of skilled workers.

It's surprising that only i found that funny

Comon Thailand ... you are almost there, a few more teenage pregnancies and you can be number 1

Until they start educating teens about safe sex and getting them to use / wear protection this trend will continue

Give them access to protection

When will Thailand learn that education is not a bad thing?

Why is it so hard to put on a condom for a teenager? They can't afford it?

Condoms too big? No 2-inch ones sold at 7-11s?

Edited March 11, 201511 yr by davidron

No one said it... another hub?

Thailand, the hub of teen pregnancies. Congrats on keeping young poor women ignorant and men continuing with no moral responsibility for their offspring.

At least you don't have men in black campaigning against using condoms.

The Filipinos are brainwashed into believing they are forever damned if they use them, and at the University I worked at in Papua New Guinea, the sisters at the student health clinic refused to issue condoms, even though they had boxes of them in storage.

We can't entirely blame the education system.

how about in Thailand. what are they taught in schools?

Sex education doesn't really work. It has sometimes even been observed to have the complete opposite affect.