The rate of tee
n pregnancies in the USA has collapsed in the past decade, and has fallen by 60 percent from its 1957 high point of 96 live births per 1000 girls between the ages of 15 and 19. According to a report in the Washington Post, which cites a Centers for Disease Control annual study, the 2009 teen birth rate was 39 live berths per 1000 girls, an all-time low.
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Although there has been a general decline since 1957, this rate is the lowest since 1940, when officials began tracking the rate. The reported rate is a six percent drop from 2007, and a decline of 40 percent from the 60 per 1000 in 1991, a peak in an uptick that began in 1985-86.
Reasons cited for the rapid drop in the past couple of years include the economy, and the availability of abortions. Abortions have been available for decades, now, so that seems not to be a change engine, but the economy may be. Teens may not follow Wall Street, but they know when their parents, and they by extension, are broke.
Population statistical trends tend to be somewhat erratic year-over-year, as is this one (see graph in Washington Post article), but the overall trend is good news. The bad news is that the USA still leads 16 other developed countries in teen birth rates.
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Comments: 35
I say keep shows like 16 and pregnant as lame as they are I think it's bringing the message home, increasing the access to Birth Control and it will continue to drop.
Sure, I wonder that too, but like I was saying that's why these studies are interesting to some degree, but they often also leave big questions unanswered that their research has not provided. I'm not going to expound on that idea much further, but if you think about some of the other studies we've argued about in this forum that also leave room for question because those studies have not researched aspects that would also be relevant, and that you've vehemently and unequivocally defended as conclusive just because the research for such has not been conducted, then maybe you ought to give that some thought too.
It appears that economic reasons trump all others since the birth rate dropped across all age groups but one (40-44). I find that interesting. It suggests that unmarried teenage girls have one eye on the boys and the other on the economy
According to the CDC report, the pregnancy rate for girls 10-14 is 0.5 per 1000. That's down 17% from 2007-2009, and down 50% from 1991-2005. As with older teens, more younger teens are managing to not make babies than they did in the past.
They've been tracking these numbers long enough to look back over the last few decades to see how they fit in with the ups and downs of the economy. I'm tempted to look it up myself, but I'm not sure what numbers to use for the economy. GDP? The Dow? Avg. per capita income? Unemployment?
Apart from a short-lived increase in the mid-80s to early-90s, the teen pregnancy rate has been dropping fairly steadily since the 50s. Economics may play a role, but I think education and contraception are much more important factors.
And cultural changes, too. It wasn't that long ago that having babies (and husbands) at 16 wasn't that unusual, and 19 was perfectly respectable. Both my grandmothers had babies (and husbands) by the time they were 20. That doesn't happen nearly as much these days.
That being said, I was looking at marriage laws and I think the number of states that allow 14-year-old kids to get married (either with parental consent, a court order, or both) is kinda nasty.
"been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding, the cretins cloning and feeding and I don't even own a tv" - from Flag Pole Sitta by Harvey Danger
Have a very happy holiday