Shocker: U.S. teen birth rate plummets to all-time low

Shocker: U.S. teen birth rate plummets to all-time low

The teen birth rate in the United States dropped to its lowest level in nearly 70 years according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which released the report on Tuesday. Analysts believe that the economic downturn is partly to have caused the dramatic decline. Last year's teen birth rate decreased 6 percent to 39 births for every 1,000 teenage girls 15 to 19 years of age. Teenage births represent about ten percent of all births in the nation. The year 1957 saw the greatest boom in teen births with 96 births per 1,000 girls but American women generally married younger back then. The total births in the nation likewise dropped 3 percent to 4.1 million births in 2009. It represents the second straight year that the number of births have fallen. A notable exception is the 40-44 age group, who registered a 3 percent rise in total births in 2009. An initial count of total births in 2010 suggests that the number of births is still declining. Previously it had been trending upwards since 2000. The economic recession from December 2007 to June 2009 may have contributed to the sharp drop in U.S. teen births, some experts say. "I'm not suggesting that teens are examining futures of 401(k)s or how the market is doing," said Sarah Brown, the head of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. "But I think they are living in families that experience that stress. They are living next door to families that lost their jobs...The recession has touched us all," she explained about the declining teen birth rate.

Posted by George Daniels on Wednesday December 22 2010, 2:29 AM EST. Ref: AP. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0