Facts and Statistics Affecting Our Community

According to the Kids Count 2018 data on Indiana youth:

Sexually active teenagers may experience unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Teens who don’t use contraceptives, use contraceptives inconsistently or have multiple sex partners face a greater risk.[1]

• 41.7% of Indiana high school students have had sex with someone. [2]
• Nearly 1 in 3 Indiana high school students are currently sexually active, defined as having had sex within the past 3 months.
• 8.7% of high school students have had sexual intercourse with four or more persons.
• Of high school students who have ever had sex, 17.5% report that they drank alcohol or used drugs before they had sexual intercourse the last time.
• 1 in 10 high school students have been physically forced to have sex. Females are twice as likely to have this experience (13.4%) compared to males (6.4%). [3]
• Among Indiana high school students who are sexually active, 15.5% did not use any method of contraception the last time they had sex.
• Indiana high school students are less likely to have used a condom the last time they had sex compared to their peers nationally (53.4% versus 56.9%). [4]
• In 2016, there were 44 births to mothers younger than 15 years old, 1,297 births to mothers ages 15-17 and 3,953 births to mothers ages 18-19.
• Indiana’s teen birth rate for females ages 15-19 is currently the lowest rate ever recorded, 23.5 per 1,000.
• In Indiana, most of chlamydia cases and gonorrhea cases are in youth and young adults younger than 25. [5]

[1] Child Trends (2017). Sexually Active Teens.
[2] Indiana State Department of Health (2015). Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
[3] Indiana State Department of Health (2015). Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
[4] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2015). Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
[5] Indiana State Department of Health (2017). STD Morbidity: Chlamydia, Gonorrhea and Syphilis Morbidity January – December 2015.