This week the Center of Disease Control released preliminary birth data for 2013 which includes the teen birth rate. The nation’s teen birth rate decreased 10 percent in the last year.
According to Director of Arizona’s Department of Health Services, Will Humble, “since 2009 our teen birth rate has dropped more than 30 percent, from 10,725 in 2009 to 7,222 in 2013.
Humble points to teen pregnancy prevention education as possible factor. “There are lots of theories as to why the teen birth rate is dropping,” Humble wrote in his blog this week. “We’ve been providing teen pregnancy prevention education since the mid 1990’s. This sustained effort with evidence-based interventions is one factor that has contributed to the decline in teen pregnancies. There are literally thousands of kids around the state learning about healthy relationships and the impact of having a baby before they are ready.’
Humbled cited one study that showed “the recent drop in teen births may be partially linked with a popular TV shows called 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom.”
The CDC report found:
The 2013 preliminary number of births for the United States was 3,957,577, slightly more births (4,736) than in 2012. The number of births increased or were unchanged for most race and Hispanic origin groups from 2012 to 2013; however, the number of births for Asian or Pacific Islander women declined 2% in 2013.
• The general fertility rate was 62.9 births per 1,000 women age 15-44 years, down slightly from 2012 and a record low.
• The birth rate for teens aged 15-19 declined 10% in 2013 to 26.6 births per 1,000 women, yet another historic low for the nation, with rates declining for both younger and older teenagers to record lows.
• The birth rate for women in their early twenties also declined in 2013, to a record low of 81.2 births per 1,000 women.
• Birth rates for women in their thirties and forties rose in 2013.
• The non-marital birth rate was down 1% in 2013 to 44.8 births per 1,000 unmarried women aged 15-44; the number of births to unmarried women declined slightly, as did the percentage of births to unmarried women (40.6% in 2013).
• A small decline was seen in the cesarean delivery rate (32.7%).
• The preterm birth rate fell for the seventh year in a row to 11.38% in 2013.
• The low birthweight rate was essentially unchanged at 8.02%.