Teen births are at the lowest ever reported in the U.S. and both the number of births and birth rate dropped 10 percent in just one year, according to fresh federal data released Thursday.
The number of births to teens ages 15-19 in 2013 was 274,641, which the National Center for Health Statistics says is the lowest since it started tracking such data from all states in 1933. That number is far fewer than in 1970, which was the all-time peak year with 644,708 teen births.
The 10 percent drop in the teen birth rate – to 26.6 births per 1,000 from 29.4 births per 1,000 in 2012 – marked another historic low.
“A drop of 10 percent in a single year is quite dramatic,” says senior demographer Carl Haub of the nonprofit Population Reference Bureau.
Bill Albert, chief program officer at the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, says the reduction in teen births “has gone from extraordinary to almost unbelievable.”
The report notes that from 2007 through 2010, the number of births declined steadily, but the pace of decline slowed from 2010 to 2012.
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