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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jan 26.
Published in final edited form as: Stud Fam Plann. 2014 Sep;45(3):301–314. doi: 10.1111/j.1728-4465.2014.00393.x

TABLE 3.

Number of pregnancies, pregnancy rates by intention status, and percent of pregnancies unintended in major world regions and subregions, 2012

Region Total number
of pregnancies
(in millions)		 Pregnancy rate per 1,000 women aged 15–44 Percent of
pregnancies
that are
unintended
All
pregnancies		 Intended Unintended
Worldwide 213.4 133 80 53 40
  More developed 23.4 94 50 44 47
  Less developed 190.0 140 85 54 39
Africa 53.8 224 145 80 35
  Eastern 19.4 246 138 108 44
  Middle 7.8 279 171 108 39
  Northern 7.1 144 103 41 29
  Southern 1.8 124 55 69 55
  Western 17.6 256 191 66 26
Asia 119.7 120 75 46 38
  Eastern 36.6 99 62 37 37
  South-central 56.5 134 86 48 36
  Southeastern 18.8 127 71 56 44
  Western 7.8 141 79 62 44
Europe 14.1 94 52 43 45
  Eastern 7.0 110 52 57 52
  Northern 1.8 93 58 35 38
  Southern 2.4 80 45 35 44
  Western 2.8 80 52 27 34
Latin America and the Caribbean 17.8 122 54 68 56
  Caribbean 1.3 133 48 84 64
  Central America 5.1 125 75 50 40
  South America 11.4 120 45 74 62
North America 7.1 100 49 51a 51a
Oceania 0.9 116 73 43 37
a

If mistimed births in North America were limited to those that occurred at least two years before they were wanted, as in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, the unintended pregnancy rate would be 44 percent and the proportion of pregnancies that were unintended in North America would be 42 percent.