In developed countries such as the United States, teenage mothers have a high probability of raising their children in poverty and relying on public assistance. More than one-half of all U.S. adolescent mothers and about three-fourths of all unmarried adolescent mothers receive welfare
support.Whereas they represent only a minority of all welfare cases, 53 percent of welfare funding is to families formed by adolescent births (Alan Guttmacher Institute 1994). Although the children of adolescent mothers visit medical providers less frequently and have lower total medical expenses, more of their expenses are paid by others than is true among children of older mothers. Estimates suggest that the expenses paid by others would decrease by nearly half if adolescent mothers postponed
childbearing until at least age twenty-two. Overall, best estimates indicate that adolescent childbearing coupled with the other disadvantages faced by adolescent mothers costs U.S.taxpayers a total of $13 to $19 billion annually, (Strasburger, New Mexico School of Medicine).