PSA Catanduanes reports a total of 414 teenage pregnancies

In 2024, a total of 414 births were recorded from teenage mothers in Catanduanes. This indicates that in every 100 live births in 2024, 12 were from teenage mothers. In addition, 153 of these cases involved minors aged 17 and below.

Youngest Recorded Mother in 2024

The youngest recorded mother in Catanduanes for 2024 was just 13 years old. The data also shows a gradual increase in teenage births with age, peaking at 19 years old with 165 births.

Out of the 414 total teenage births, the majority (95% or 393 cases) were non-marital babies, with 21 babies born to married couple. (See Table 1)

Majority of Teenage Mothers Are Still Studying

Out of the 414 teenage mothers recorded in 2024, 50.7% (210 cases) were still students. In addition to students, 203 teenage mothers (49.0%) were identified as housekeepers in their own homes, while one (0.2%) was recorded as an abaca farmer. (Figure 1)

Construction Laborer is the Most Common Job of Fathers

Among teenage pregnancies where paternal information was provided, the top occupation of fathers was construction laborer (19%), followed by abaca farmer (16%) and student (10%). (Table 2)

76 Teenage Births Have No Paternal Acknowledgment

In 2024, 76 teenage births in Catanduanes were recorded without paternal acknowledgment. Virac had the highest number of cases with 28, followed by San Andres with 13 and Caramoran with 8. Other municipalities also reported cases, including Bato (7), Baras (5), Pandan (5), Bagamanoc (3), San Miguel (3), Gigmoto (2), Panganiban (1), and Viga (1). (Table 3)

Out of the 76 teenage births without paternal acknowledgment in 2024, the highest number was recorded among 19-year-old mothers with 26 cases, followed by 18 year-olds with 15 cases and 17-year-olds with 14 cases. The younger age groups also had reported cases, including 16-year-olds (12), 15-year-olds (7), and 14-year-olds (2). (Figure 2)

Age Range of Fathers in Teenage Births: Youngest at 16, Oldest at 49

The youngest recorded father of a teenage mother in 2024 was 16 years old, while the oldest was 49 years old. The majority of fathers were within the younger adult age group, with the highest number recorded at 19 years old (54 cases), followed by 20 years old (47 cases) and 21 years old (38 cases). Teenage fathers, aged 19 and below comprises 26.3% (109 cases) while, fathers aged 20 to 24 years old contributed to 38.9% of the cases. (Table 4)

Age Gap Between Fathers and Teenage Mothers

Among the 414 recorded teenage births in 2024, the majority of fathers (25.6%) were older by 3 to 5 years, followed closely by those who were 1 to 2 years older (23.4%). Meanwhile, 14.7% of fathers were 6 to 10 years older than the teenage mother, and 5.6% had an age gap of 11 to 20 years. Notably, 0.7% of fathers were more than 20 years older than the teenage mother. On the other hand, 6.5% of fathers were the same age as the mother, while 5.1% were younger. Additionally, 18.4% of teenage births had no stated paternal age.

July Has the Highest Number of Teenage Births

The highest number of teenage births was recorded in July, with 47 cases, followed by January (41) and March (40). The months with the lowest recorded teenage births were May (25), June (29), and August (29). The remaining months had figures ranging between 30 to 37 cases. (Table 3)

56% of Teenage Births Were Born in Virac

In 2024, the distribution of teenage births in Catanduanes varied between the mother’s place of residence and the actual place of birth. (Figure 4) Virac recorded the highest number of teenage births, with 233 cases, despite having only 93 resident teenage mothers, indicating that many expectant mothers from neighboring municipalities came to Virac to give birth. Similarly, Pandan had 45 teenage mothers residing in the municipality but recorded 66 births. San Andres had 74 resident teenage mothers, yet only 37 births occurred within the municipality. Some areas, such as Bagamanoc, Baras, and San Miguel, had teenage mothers residing there but no recorded births, suggesting that these mothers gave birth in other municipalities. Additionally, two teenage mothers were recorded as residing outside the province.

CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

Teenage Pregnancy also called adolescent pregnancy, refers to pregnancies by women, aged 19 years and below.

Live Birth is a complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of the pregnancy, which after such separation, breathes or shows any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached; each product of such a birth is considered liveborn.