JUNE 2016

THE COUNCIL OF STATE GOVERNMENTS

CAPITOL RESEARCH
HEALTH POLICY

Teen Pregnancy Rates Hit New Lows

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
announced in May 2016 that teen pregnancies were
at an all-time low. The national rate has fallen to 25.4
pregnancies per 1,000 females ages 15-19, for the
years 2013-2014.1 Just 20 years ago, the national teen
pregnancy rate was more than 100 pregnancies per
1,000 females, ages 15-19.2

2013-2014. Besides Arizona, the top five percentage

declines were in Connecticut and Colorado, at 47.5
percent; Massachusetts, at 46.2 percent; and Maryland, at 45.3 percent. Another 14 states had declines
of more than 40 percent for the time period.

Teen Pregnancy Rates Vary by State

Nationally, black and Hispanic females had teen

pregnancy rates twice as high as white females during
the 2013-2014 timeframe. However, the disparity is
smaller than in earlier years as the decline in pregnancy is greater for black and Hispanic teens than for
white teens. Nationally, pregnancy rates fell by 47.8
percent for Hispanic females 15-19 years old and 40.3
percent for black females 15-19 years old.

The range of states teen pregnancy rates for 20132014 is from 41.5 per 1,000 in Arkansas to 11.3 per
1,000 in Massachusetts. The five states with the
highest teen pregnancy rates during this timeframe
Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Mississippi and
Texashad rates about three times higher than the
lowest statesMassachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey and Vermont.

Teen Pregnancies Falling in All States

The national teen pregnancy rate fell by more than
a third38.5 percentbetween 2006-2007 and

The Council of State Governments

Disparities in Teen Pregnancy Rates Narrow

Why Does Teen Pregnancy Matter?

Teen pregnancy can have negative impacts on mothers and children. Pregnancy and births contribute to
higher high school dropout rates among girls. The
CDC reports that only 50 percent of teen mothers

are awarded a high school diploma by the time they

are 22 years old, compared to a 90 percent graduation
rate for females who do not give birth as teens.3
Children with teen mothers may face a myriad of
negative consequences. They are more likely to face
problems in school, including dropping out. They are
more likely to have health problems, be incarcerated
at some time during adolescence, become a teenage
mother and be unemployed as a young adult.4
Teen pregnancy and teen births cost taxpayers. In
2010, according to the CDC, costs totaled at least
$9.4 billion for increased costs of health care, foster
care and incarceration of the children of teen parents,
as well as lost tax revenue from teen mothers who
tend to have less educational attainment and lower
income.5

Why Are Teen Pregnancy Rates Dropping?

Teenagers are becoming sexually active at a later age6
and more likely to be using effective contraception,
according to the Pew Research Center.7 The percent-

age of never-married teenage females who report

they have had sex fell from 51 percent in 1988 to 44
percent in 2011-2013.8 More than 85 percent of teens
having sex report using some form of birth control.9
The use of highly-effective long-acting reversible
contraceptionintrauterine devices and hormone
implants known as LARCshas increased dramatically.10 The Pew Center concluded that increased
access to science-based sex education in schools has
played a major role in reducing teen pregnancy.11
Media, including two highly popular MTV reality
television shows that portrayed the struggles of teen
mothers, may have contributed up to one-third of the
decline of teen births when they aired between 2009
and 2010 according to a 2014 Brookings Institution
report.12
David Paton, an economist at Nottingham University
Business School, has suggested that the increasing
use of social media works as a form of birth control.
Teens are spending more time remotely interacting
with their friends than engaged in sexual activity.13
Debra Miller, CSG Director of Health Policy, dmiller@csg.org

REFERENCES

1 Unless otherwise cited, all data is from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Romero, Lisa; Pazol, Karen; Warner, Lee; et al. Reduced Disparities in Birth Rates Among Teens
Aged 1519 Years United States, 20062007 and 20132014. MMWR Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report 2016; 65:409414. http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6516a1
2 Kost, Kathryn, and Henshaw, Stanley. U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births and Abortions,
2010: National and State Trends by Age, Race and Ethnicity. Guttmacker Institute. May 2014.
https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/ustptrends10.pdf
3 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About Teen Pregnancy.
http://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/about/index.htm
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.

Patton, Eileen, and Livingston, Gretchen. Why is the Teen Birth Rate Falling? Pew Research
Center. April 29, 2016.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/29/why-is-the-teen-birth-rate-falling/
Ibid.
Kost and Stanley. CDC.
10
Patton and Livingston. Pew Research Center.
11
Ibid.
12
Kearney, Melissa, and Levine, Phillip. Media Influences on Social Outcomes: The Impact of
MTVs 16 and Pregnant on Teen Childbearing. Brooking Institution. January 2014.
http://goo.gl/dhY6Gd
13
Bingham, John. How Teenage Pregnancy Collapsed after Birth of Social Media. The
Telegraph. March 9, 2016. http://goo.gl/E1CT3Z

TABLE NOTESW
NA=not applicable.
(a) Overall for the United States, and unless otherwise indicated for individual states, the decline from 20062007 to 20132014 was significant (p<0.05).
(b)Teens categorized as black or white were non-Hispanic. Teens categorized as Hispanic might be of any race. Other racial ethnic populations were too small for meaningful analysis.
(c)Birth rate for non-Hispanic black teens divided by the birth rate for non-Hispanic white teens.
(d)Birth rate for Hispanic teens divided by the birth rate for non-Hispanic white teens.
(e)The decrease from 20062007 to 20132014 was not statistically significantly (p>0.05).
(f)Figure does not meet standards of reliability or precision; based on >20 births in the numerator.
SOURCE: Romero L, Pazol K, Warner L, et al. Reduced Disparities in Birth Rates Among Teens Aged 1519 Years United States, 20062007 and 20132014. MMWR Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report 2016;
65:409414; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6516a1

THE COUNCIL OF STATE GOVERNMENTS

TEEN BIRTH RATES, PER 1,000 FEMALES AGED 1519 YEARS

State

Birth rate 20132014

Birth rate ratio 20132014

Overall

White

Black

Hispanic(b)

Overall

White

Black

Hispanic

Alabama

33.2

29.4

39.3

49.7

1.3

1.7

-36.2

-27.9

-40.1

-66.4

Alaska

29.1

20.5

30

27.5

1.5

1.3

-31.2

-25.2

-43.3

-53.5

Arizona

31.5

17.9

35.5

43.9

2.5

-47.8

-41.7

-37.3

-55.7

Arkansas

41.5

37.7

54.6

46.5

1.4

1.2

-31.4

-25.6

-35.1

-55.9

California

22.4

10

28

33.3

2.8

3.3

-43.6

-39.8

-36.8

-48.8

Colorado

21.9

13.5

24.2

41.2

1.8

3.1

-47.5

-39.5

-55.2

-56.8

Connecticut

12.2

5.1

20.4

34.3

6.7

-47.6

-49.5

-53.6

-49.5

Delaware

22.7

15.4

32.9

40.7

2.1

2.6

-43.1

-36.1

-45.9

-60.3

District of Columbia

30.3

1.8

44.2

49.1

24.6

27.3

-38.5

-45.5(e)

-30.7

-55.7

Florida

23.6

18.8

35.9

24.4

1.9

1.3

-45.1

-37.3

-42.6

-57

Georgia

29.5

23.3

36

43.8

1.5

1.9

-45

-40.4

-43.5

-63.8

Hawaii

24.1

18.6

19.2

42.7

2.3

-37.9

-41

-44.8

-49.5

Idaho

24.5

20.5

17.6

43.8

0.9

2.1

-37.2

-34.1

-35.5(e)

-52.7

Illinois

23.7

13.7

46.1

35.4

3.4

2.6

-40.8

-34.1

-39.6

-51.6

Indiana

29.1

26

44.1

41.3

1.7

1.6

-31.4

-27

-41.3

-50.5

Iowa

Black:white(c) Hispanic:white(d)

Percent change in birth rate 2006

2007 to 20132014(a)

21

17.1

46.6

46.3

2.7

2.7

-35.8

-38

-38.8

-49.3

Kansas

28.6

22.6

43

53.3

1.9

2.4

-31.4

-29.6

-41.3

-43.4

Kentucky

37.4

37

41.5

44.7

1.1

1.2

-28.6

-24.6

-40

-61.5

Louisiana

37.5

30.3

47.5

48.1

1.6

1.6

-31.1

-24.1

-36.9

-26

Maine

16.9

16.7

25.8

17

1.5

-33.7

-33.5

-30.8(e)

-43.1(e)

Maryland

18.6

10.5

27.3

39.6

2.6

3.8

-45.3

-47.8

-45.5

-49.2

Massachusetts

11.3

17.1

38.4

2.9

6.4

-46.2

-54.9

-52.2

-38.2

Michigan

22.3

16.4

45.3

32.5

2.8

-33.2

-31.4

-29.2

-53.6

Minnesota

16.1

10.8

35.5

39.8

3.3

3.7

-41.7

-40

-47.2

-57.8

Mississippi

40.3

33.2

48.6

41.9

1.5

1.3

-41.3

-35.9

-43.6

-61.4

Missouri

28.6

25.2

44.5

41.5

1.8

1.6

-35

-31.3

-39.5

-52

Montana

27.1

21.4

(f)

34.5

NA

1.6

-25.5

-25.2

(f)

-28.3

Nebraska

23.6

16.2

42.6

53.9

2.6

3.3

-30.8

-27.4

-51.1

-46.6

Nevada

29.4

20

41.5

39.5

2.1

-44

-37.3

-35.6

-54.2

New Hampshire

11.8

11.4

14

22.5

1.2

-36.9

-36.3

-40.9(e)

-48.9

New Jersey

14

4.8

27.4

31.3

5.7

6.5

-43.8

-44.8

-43.4

-47.7

New Mexico

40.5

22.8

27.3

48.2

1.2

2.1

-36

-33.5

-47.8

-40.3

New York

16.9

10.2

24.2

31.7

2.4

3.1

-35

-29.7

-38.3

-39.8

North Carolina

27.2

19.7

35.4

48.5

1.8

2.5

-43.3

-40.3

-42.4

-61.5

North Dakota

24

18.2

36.8

52

2.9

-13.4

-5.7(e)

-5.6(e)

-33.2(e)

Ohio

26.1

21.5

46.9

41.5

2.2

1.9

-33.8

-32

-37

-45.3

Oklahoma

40.7

35.8

46.9

58

1.3

1.6

-29.3

-25.6

-33.6

-39.5

Oregon

20.8

16.5

29.5

39.1

1.8

2.4

-39.7

-36.8

-35.9

-54.1

Pennsylvania

20.1

13.8

38.9

48.7

2.8

3.5

-34.1

-31

-41.1

-42.9

Rhode Island

16.7

10

24.8

40.9

2.5

4.1

-41.2

-38.7

-53.7

-44.6

South Carolina

30

24.9

37.3

45.5

1.5

1.8

-42.2

-34.6

-44.2

-64.9

South Dakota

27.6

17.2

28.6

47.3

1.7

2.8

-31

-33.8

-40.4(e)

-47

Tennessee

33.8

29.6

45.2

50.8

1.5

1.7

-35.9

-31

-37.1

-64.8

Texas

39.4

23.4

39.3

54.7

1.7

2.3

-36.1

-31.4

-38.9

-40.5

Utah

20

14.5

24.5

46.5

1.7

3.2

-41.7

-41.1

-55.9

-52

Vermont

14.4

14.8

19.7

(f)

1.3

NA

-29.4

-29.2

(f)

(f)

Virginia

19.3

15

28.5

32.6

1.9

2.2

-43.6

-37.5

-45.9

-56.6

Washington

19.8

14.9

22.3

41.4

1.5

2.8

-39.6

-38.2

-49.5

-50.4

West Virginia

38.3

39.2

33.8

26.8

0.9

0.7

-14.9

-13.3

-35.1

-28.3(e)

Wisconsin

18.8

11.8

53.8

41.3

4.6

3.5

-38.4

-38.5

-38.2

-50.3

Wyoming

29.9

27.7

19.8

40.1

0.7

1.4

-37.7

-31.6

-72.3

-56

United States

25.4

18

37

39.8

2.1

2.2

-38.5

-33.3

-40.3

-47.8

FOR TABLE NOTES AND SOURCE, SEE PAGE 2...

THE COUNCIL OF STATE GOVERNMENTS