This third Innocenti Report Card presents the most up-to-date and comprehensive survey so far of teenage birth rates in the industrialized world. And it attempts at least a partial analysis of why some countries have teenage birth rates that are ten or even fifteen times higher than others. The starting point is a new league table of teenage birth rates, showing the number of births per 1,000 15 to 19-year-olds in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations under review. Additional figures show how those rates have changed over the last 30 years. Data reveals that the five countries with the lowest teenage birth rates are Korea, Japan, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Sweden-- all with teen birth rates of fewer than 7 per 1,000. The United States teenage birth rate of 52.1 is the highest in the developed world-- and about four times the European Union average. As a contribution to the debate, this report draws on international experience and comparison to establish current facts and trends, to identify some of the forces that offer young people both motive and means to delay childbearing, and to look at what might be learnt from those societies that have already succeeded in reducing the problem. (Contains 44 references.) (GCP)