American teenagers have the highest rates of drug and alcohol abuse in the developed world. And they are far more likely to be killed by violence than peers in Europe. This lost generation, whose unemployment rate is 20 percent, leads the modern world in some of the most dangerous and irresponsible behaviors, according to a new study released by the Lancet medical journal. Click below to read the rest of the story.
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The shocking data was released to highlight cultural neglect occurring in the adolescents and young adults — too many of whom die young, according to the researchers behind the publication.
Not all the news is bad. American teens appear to have the highest rates of exercise in the developed world.
Despite this, American teens, age 13 to 15 are dramatically more likely to be overweight, leading the western world, according to the data.
Among the most startling discoveries of the Lancet data is how much higher the rates of teen violent death are in the US than the rest of the developed world.
About 17 in 100,000 teen boys age 15 to 19 are killed by violence. The next two closest countries are Israel and Switzerland, with four.
Britain’s rate is just one.
The teen drinking statistics come with an important caveat. Some 30 percent of American 13 to 15 year-old-girls reported binge drinking in the last 30 days — more than any other developed country.
However, several nations — among them Britain — were not included in the data.
Britain has the third highest proportion of sexually active teenagers in the world as well as some of the worst levels of harmful underage drinking.
The research found that sexual activity among 13 to 15-year-olds was highest among girls in Denmark followed by Iceland, the UK and Sweden.
Greece and Denmark had the highest rates among boys.
The lowest rates in boys were in Belgium, and for girls Israel.
US rates of young teen sex were about average for the developed world, with about 25 percent of boys and 26 percent of girls saying they had sex before age 15.
