U.S. teen birth rate falls to lowest level in 70 years

[News_Editor]

U.S. teen birth rate falls to lowest level in 70 years

2010-12-22 15:56:23 GMT+7 (ICT)

ATLANTA, GEORGIA (BNO NEWS) -- The 2009 birth rate for U.S. teens aged 15 to 19 years fell to its lowest level in 70 years, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention.  

The CDC said the 2009 birth rate of 39.1 births per 1,000 teens is down 6 percent from the 2008 rate of 42.5 births per 1,000. It represents the lowest level ever recorded in seven decades of tracking teenage childbearing as birth rates for younger and older teens and for all race/ethnic groups reached historic lows in 2009.

The data is based on nearly 100 percent of birth records collected in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.  

The report from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics also notes declines in the overall fertility rate - the average number of births that a group of women would have over their lifetimes - and the total number of U.S. births.

The general fertility rate fell from 68.6 births per 1,000 females aged 15-44 per year in 2008 to 66.7 in 2009, while the total number of births declined from 4,247,694 in 2008 to 4,131,019 in 2009. This decline appears to be continuing into 2010, based on early birth counts from January to June of this year.  

In addition, the total number of births to unmarried mothers declined in 2009, the first decline since 1997, and the rate of births per 1,000 unmarried mothers also declined for the first time since 2002.  

However, because total births declined more than unmarried births, the percentage of births to unmarried mothers rose slightly in 2009, to 41 percent of all U.S. births compared to 40.6 in 2008.  

Furthermore, the report revealed that the birth rate for women in their early twenties fell 7 percent in 2009, the largest decline for this age group since 1973. And while the rates also fell for women in their late twenties and thirties, rates for women in their early forties increased in 2009.

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