One of every five Vietnamese women undergoing abortion is juvenile, local newspaper Labor reported Tuesday.

Some 300,000 unmarried women, mainly youths, in Vietnam undergo abortion each year, the newspaper quoted sources from the country's Health Ministry. The Obstetrics Hospital in Hanoi capital receives 20-30 abortion cases every day and half of them are unmarried.

Their premarital sex engagement at early age plus poor awareness of reproductive health, especially contraception, is among the causes leading to unwanted pregnancies. About 20 percent of youths aged 15-20 from the capital city engage in premarital sex, many of whom, including university and grade students, have experienced abortion, the newspaper said.

To reduce its high abortion rate, Vietnam is encouraging local people to use modern contraceptive methods and improving sex education among people, especially the youth.

Vietnam now has a population of over 83.1 million, 50.8 percent of whom are women. As of April 2005, people aged below 15 accounted for 26.4 percent of the total population, according to a national census.

Source: Xinhua