Teen Birth Rate at Historic Low

The teen birth rate in 2012 marks a his­toric low. Of the 4 mil­lion births that occurred that year, 305,000 were to teens between the ages of 15 and 19. Between 1990 and 2012, the teen birth rate was halved from 60 births per 1,000 teens to 29 births per 1,000 teens.

There also was a 29% drop in the births that occurred among teens who were already moth­ers, mean­ing few­er teen moms had addi­tion­al chil­dren. In terms of the states, New Hamp­shire and Mass­a­chu­setts had the low­est teen birth rate (14 per 1,000 teens), while Okla­homa and New Mex­i­co had the high­est (47 per 1,000 teens). The deci­sion to delay child­bear­ing by teens is an encour­ag­ing trend.

The KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter fea­tures new birth data for the nation, states and the 50 largest cities, including:

• Total births
• Total births by race
   
• Total teen births
• Teen births by race
• Teen births by age group
• Teen moth­ers (15 to 19)
• Teen births to women who were already mothers
   
• Low-birth­weight babies
• Low-birth­weight babies by race
• Very low-birth­weight babies
• Preterm births
   
• Births to moth­ers who smoked dur­ing pregnancy
• Births to women receiv­ing late or no pre­na­tal care
• Births to unmar­ried women
• Births to moth­ers with less than 12 years of education
   
• Births to for­eign-born mothers