Family Centre executive director Martha Dismont has reacted with concern but no surprise to the jump in the number of teen pregnancies last year.

Government recently revealed statistics showing pregnancies for under-age mothers had tripled in 2004.

Ms Dismont said: ?It is part and parcel of some of the other trends we are seeing. It is very concerning.

?We are listening to young children and teenagers ? they are having sex all over the island. The concern is there is lots of sex going on.?

Campaigner Sheelagh Cooper had called on Police to follow up by prosecuting the men involved who she said were committing statutory rape.

But Ms Dismont said she doubted pregnant teens reported their partner. ?There needs to be more education, it is very concerning this has tripled.?

The large numbers of children being born out of wedlock was also a major concern said Ms Dismont.

The latest figures show 549 babies were born in wedlock while 287 were born out of wedlock.

Ms Dismont said the trend put a huge burden on social services, the helping agencies and the housing market.

?It is very difficult at this point in time for a family with two parents to afford the cost of living.?

The trend meant some single parents struggled to pay the bills so worked longer hours and neglected their children. Those children were often not given the supervision they needed ? which sometimes then resulted in more teen pregnancies, said Ms Dismont.

Acting Inspector of the Juvenile and Domestic Crime Unit Mark Clarke said the statistics on teen pregnancies needed to be approached with some caution.

The figures, revealed in the House of Assembly, showed that there were 12 babies born to girls under 16 in 2004, compared to four the year before.

He said Police didn?t hesitate to prosecute when older men were preying on young girls.

?We are actively investigating several cases before us of unlawful carnal knowledge.?

But he said the Government figures didn?t reveal if the father was a similar age.

Generally he said the number of unlawful carnal knowledge cases was going down, he said, and the pregnancies could have been caused from consensual sex among teens in which case it was more a matter for social services than Police.

?I would not use this figure to say there is whole scale sexual abuse going on in Bermuda. We know child abuse occurs, nobody on the island would say it doesn?t. Ultimately we have to be cautious about the use of a raw number ? 12 ? versus four, when we don?t have sufficient information on those 12.?