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Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 217 -- Teen Birth Rate.

Teenage Pregnancy-

In the good news department, teen birth rates are down (.pdf):

The abortion rate for teens also declined over the same period, interestingly enough.

The Freakonomics explanation would point to the relatively high abortion rate in the 1970s-1980s as the cause of all of this. Victims of abortion might have been more likely to have abortions, themselves, later in life. Victims of abortion might have been more likely to become teen moms, as well.

Also interesting: America's overall birth rate, unlike the birth rate in many industrialized countries, has actually risen over the same time frame, including very recently (.pdf):

In 2003, 4,089,950 births were registered in the United States, 2 percent more than in 2002. Births increased among non-Hispanic white, Hispanic, American Indian, and Asian or Pacific Islander (API) women but decreased among non-Hispanic black women.

The 2003 crude birth rate for the United States increased 1 percent from 2002, to 14.1 live births per 1,000 total population. The general fertility rate (GFR) also increased, to 66.1 live births per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years, 2 percent higher than the 2002 rate.

So, the falling teen birth rate is not simply part of a larger societal trend. And it's probably good news.

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Posted by Will Franklin · 15 November 2005 11:02 AM

Comments

Posted by: jp at November 15, 2005 12:46 PM

Posted by: Will Franklin at November 15, 2005 12:48 PM