| Table 1. Population indicators of socioeconomic disadvantage and percentage distributions of women aged 20-24, by selected socioeconomic characteristics, five developed countries, mid- to late 1990s | |||||
| Measure | Sweden | France | Canada | Great Britain | United States |
| POPULATION INDICATORS | |||||
| % of population at<50% of median income | 8.7 | 8.4 | 10.6 | 10.6 | 17.3 |
| Income distribution | |||||
| % going to richest 20% | 34.5 | 40.2 | 39.3 | 43.0 | 46.4 |
| % going to poorest 20% | 9.6 | 7.2 | 7.5 | 6.6 | 5.2 |
| Ratio of richest to poorest | 3.6 | 5.6 | 5.2 | 6.5 | 8.9 |
| Unemployment rate | |||||
| Males 15-24 | 17.5 | 21.9 | 16.6 | 13.8 | 11.1 |
| Females15-24 | 16.1 | 30.0 | 13.7 | 10.5 | 9.8 |
| Total population | 8.2 | 11.7 | 8.3 | 6.3 | 4.5 |
| % of population 16-65functionally illiterate | 7.5 | u | 16.6 | 21.8 | 20.7 |
| % of population 15-19 foreign-born* | 4.5 | 6.6 | 13.2 | 6.5 | 9.5 |
| % DISTRIBUTIONS OF WOMEN 20-24 | |||||
| Economic status† | |||||
| Low | u | 47.0 | 24.6 | 17.3 | 31.2 |
| Medium | u | 37.5 | 33.4 | 62.9 | 35.8 |
| High | u | 15.6 | 42.0 | 19.8 | 33.0 |
| School/work status‡ | |||||
| In school only | 39.7 | 34.2 | 9.6 | 7.8 | 11.2 |
| In school and working | u | u | 30.1 | u | 20.9 |
| Working only | 40.4 | 57.6 | 49.3 | 62.3 | 48.1 |
| Neither | 19.8 | 8.2 | 11.0 | 29.8 | 19.9 |
| Educational attainment§ | |||||
| Low | 10.2 | 25.9 | 21.4 | 11.3 | 13.9 |
| Medium | 66.4 | 51.1 | 37.0 | 43.1 | 32.4 |
| High | 23.4 | 23.0 | 41.6 | 45.6 | 53.7 |
| Race/ethnicity** | |||||
| White | 98.1 | u | 87.6 | 93.9 | 67.3 |
| Hispanic | u | u | u | u | 12.8 |
| Black | u | u | u | u | 14.6 |
| Other | 1.8 | u | 12.4 | 6.1 | 5.3 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| *For Sweden and Great Britain, the value presented is the percentage of the total population who hold foreign citizenship. †For France, economic status is based on monthly family income: Low=less than Fr 8,000, middle=Fr 8,000-15,000, high=Fr 15,000 or more per month. For Canada, economic status is based on family income: Low=first and second quintiles, middle=third quintile, high=fourth and fifth quintiles. For Great Britain, economic status is based on parents' occupation: Low=semiskilled or unskilled, medium=skilled, high=intermediate or professional. For the United States, economic status is based on family income, as a percentage of the federal poverty level: Low=less than 149%, medium=149-299%, high=300% or more. ‡For Great Britain, "working only" denotes working for pay at least 10 hours a week. For Great Britain and Sweden, "neither" includes respondents who were in school and working. For France, "working only" includes those who were both working and in school. §For Sweden, low=nine years of public school or upper secondary technical line, medium=upper secondary or theoretical line, high=university; data are based on both men and women. For France, low=nine years of schooling or first technical qualification, medium=high school diploma, high=university or other postsecondary training. For Canada, low=less than complete secondary education, medium=complete secondary, high=any postsecondary education. For Great Britain, low=no certificate or formal qualifications, medium=O levels, high=A levels or university. For the United States, low=less than high school diploma, middle=grade 12 or high school diploma, high=any postsecondary education or training. **For Great Britain and Canada, other=nonwhite. For Sweden, other=any non-European origin. For countries other than the United States, data include both men and women. Notes: Countries are ordered according to their adolescent birthrate, from lowest to highest, in this and all tables and figures. u=unavailable. Sources: Income distribution, unemployment and illiteracy: United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report, 2000, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Race, ethnicity and immigrant status: Sample surveys and Council of Europe, Recent Demographic Developments in Europe, 1999, Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe Publishing, 1999. Educational attainment: Data for Canada and Sweden are based on special tabulations of Family and Fertility Surveys; all others are from country case study reports (see references 23, 34 and 38). | |||||
Figure 1. Percentage of 20-24-year-old women who gave birth before age 20, by educational attainment |
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Note: For definition of categories, see Table 1 |
Figure 2. Percentage of 20-24-year-old women who gave birth before age 20, by economic status and by race and ethnicity |
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*For the United States, "nonwhite" signifies non-Hispanic black. Other nonwhite non-Hispanics are not shown. Note: For definition of categories, see Table 1, page 253. |
Figure 3. Percentage of 20-24-year-old women who had first intercourse before age 20, by economic status |
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Note: For definition of categories, see Table 1 |
| Table 2. Percentage of 20-24-year-olds who began sexual activity before age 20, by various measures of disadvantage | ||||
| Measure | France | Canada | Great Britain | United States |
| Educational attainment | ||||
| Low | 91.4 | u | u | 95.3 |
| Medium | 78.8 | u | u | 89.0 |
| High | 80.3 | u | u | 71.8 |
| School/employment* | ||||
| In school only | u | 55.2 | 76.3 | 70.3 |
| In school and employed | u | 66.3 | u | 70.8 |
| Employed only | u | 80.2 | 83.3 | 82.6 |
| Neither | u | 89.6 | 90.3 | 92.2 |
| Race/ethnicity† | ||||
| White | u | 80.1 | 86.2 | 81.1 |
| Hispanic | u | na | na | 74.2 |
| Nonwhite | u | 38.4 | 62.3 | 89.2 |
| Immigrant status | ||||
| Foreign-born | u | 42.2 | 67.0 | 70.1 |
| Native-born | u | 79.0 | 85.4 | 81.7 |
| *Educational and school/employment categories are defined in Table 1, page 253. †For the United States, "nonwhite" signifies black non-Hispanic. Notes: u=unavailable. na=not applicable. | ||||
Figure 4. Percentage of 15-19-year-old sexually active women who did not use a contraceptive method at last intercourse, by various measures of disadvantage |
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*For definition of categories, see Table 1, page 253. †For the United States, "nonwhite" signifies black non-Hispanic. Other nonwhite non-Hispanics are not shown. Notes: Percentages are based on those who had intercourse in the past three months. For the United States, data are for 15-19-year-olds at risk of pregnancy--that is, those who were sexually active in the past three months who were not pregnant, postpartum (gave birth less than two months ago), seeking pregnancy, infecund or sterile. For Great Britain, data are for 16-19-year-olds who were sexually active in the recent three-month period. Those groups that should have been excluded because they are not at risk of pregnancy (that is, women who were pregnant, postpartum, seeking pregnancy, infecund or sterile) are included, because they could not be separately identified. Because these groups are likely to be nonusers, the impact is to make the proportion of nonusers higher than it would otherwise be. |
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© copyright 2001, The Alan Guttmacher Institute. |