Sources:
The number of pregnant Filipinas aged 15-19 has been increasing according to the latest Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study. File photo of Reuters shows pregnant Filipino teenagers.
============
This is pretty sobering.
The 2013 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study of nearly 20,000 young Filipinos/as reveals that 13.6% of girls aged 15 through 19 are mothers (1.4 million girls). That's more than 1 in 8. It was 6.3% in 2002.
And we're not even counting those under 15.
Other findings (all in the 15 to 24 year old category):
- 35.5% of males has had premarital sex compared to 28.7% for females.
- 73.4% of males and 83.8 of females did not use protection when having sex for the first time.
- Premarital sex is most common in the Manila capital region (40.9%) and least in Muslim Mindanao (7.7%).
- Despite the perception that Filipinas are turning to prostitution in great numbers, the study shows that only 1.5% were paid (money or gifts) to have sex (or about 350,000 females). That's down from 1.9% in 2002.
- 3.5% have had "friends with benefits"
- The study cites technology as making it easier for youth to find sex partners. Yet, it says technology can also be a good educating tool promoting the use of protection.