EU27 countries without compulsory sex education have significantly more teenage mothers

Research shows that EU countries that offer compulsory sex education in schools have a much lower proportion of births to teenage mothers or mothers under the age of 24 and generally have a much higher natural growth rate. Research by a multidisciplinary team shows that only seven countries in the European Union do not offer compulsory sex education in schools. These countries are mainly in Eastern Europe, namely Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, while Italy is the only Western European country where sex education is not a compulsory part of the curriculum.

Eurostat data show that there are significant differences in the number and proportion of births to underage or very young mothers between the two types of countries. Researchers have repeatedly shown that early births tend to reduce the chances of mothers completing a full cycle of education and having equal access to the labor market. In general, in countries with compulsory sex education, only 1% of live births are to underage mothers, while in countries with optional sex education, this percentage is 4% of live births. Furthermore, although the seven countries without compulsory sex education account for only 30% of annual births in the EU, they account for over 70% of annual births to mothers under 14 in the EU. Of these countries, Romania alone accounts for 45% of births to mothers under the age of 14. Similarly, while in countries with compulsory sex education only 8% of births are to mothers under the age of 24, in countries without sex education, this percentage rises to 16%.

Eurostat data also show that in countries with compulsory sex education, the natural increase (the difference between the overall birth rate and the overall death rate) is much higher than in countries without sex education. Thus, the average natural increase in countries without compulsory sex education is -6.7%, while the average natural increase in countries with compulsory sex education is -1%, and in several of these countries the natural increase is even positive, with the highest recorded in Ireland, at 5.2%, and Cyprus, at 3.5%. The natural increase in Romania is -7.4%, one of the lowest rates in the EU27.

Compulsory sex education in schools is a controversial topic in Romania. The most common criticism of sex education in schools is related to the expectation that exposure to sex education increases the incidence of sexual acts among minors. The above data show that young women in countries without access to compulsory sex education are much more likely to become mothers before the age of 18 than young women in countries with access to sex education. Another common criticism of sex education in schools, diametrically opposed to the first, is that access to compulsory sex education could lead to a decline in natural growth in Romania at a time when the country's population is declining. Similarly, data show that countries with access to sex education have a higher and almost positive natural increase than countries without access to sex education in schools.

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