The rate of teen births in developing countries has declined this year, but that's not the point, according to the United Nations Population Fund's executive director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin.

"The birth or pregnancy in one adolescent is unacceptable. One," Osotimehin told reporters in London. "Whether it's going up or down is not the issue - 7.3 million is huge."

According to the U.N. statistics released Wednesday, 7.3 million teenagers in the developing world gave birth this year, a figure which makes up 95 percent of all teen births in the entire world, The Associated Press reported. Population Fund members were especially concerned with the two million births by teens ages 14 and older, who must face the toughest social and health consequences.

"A girl who is pregnant at 14 is a girl whose rights have been violated and whose future is derailed," Osotimehin said.

The study also tracked the reasons why teens become pregnant in developing countries and the ways in which such situations can be prevented, The AP reported.

"The reality is that adolescent pregnancy is most often not the result of a deliberate choice, but rather the absence of choices, and of circumstances beyond a girl's control," Osotimehin wrote in the report. "It is a consequence of little or no access to school, employment, quality information and health care.

"Early pregnancies reflect powerlessness, poverty and pressures - from partners, peers, families and communities," he wrote. "And in too many instances, they are the result of sexual violence or coercion."

Teen births were most frequent in Western and Central Africa, where 28 percent of women ages 20-24 reported at least one birth before the age of 18, followed by South Asia (22 percent), and the Middle East (18 percent), according to The AP. Ninety percent of teen births occur within marriage, the report notes, highlighting the continued presence of child unions.

Child marriages have gone down, however, according to the report, as evidenced by the fact that some countries have seen a dramatic decrease in teen births by mothers age 15 and younger, The AP reported.

U.N. researchers did not wish to offend the women they studied, some of whom wanted to have a child before the age of 18. The report focused on the positives of waiting, such as such as "better health, educational and future income opportunities," according to The AP.

"Childhood must never be derailed by motherhood," the report said.