CDC Reports Teen Birth Rate Never Lower

HYATSVILLE, Md., Nov. 21 -- The CDC reported today that the birth rate among U.S. teens fell to an all-time low in 2005.

A survey of more than 99% of birth certificates filed in the U.S. showed that the birth rate for adolescents from the ages of 15 to 19 in 2005 was 40.4 per 1,000, a decrease of 2% over 2004.

The new rate was a drop of 35% compared with 1991, when 61.8 of every 1,000 teens were having children.

There were a total of 421,123 births to girls under age 20 in 2005.

"The decline in teenage childbearing has been documented across all race and ethnic populations, but most impressive has been the decline in these rates for non-Hispanic black teenagers," said Brady Hamilton, Ph.D., a researcher at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics and lead author of the report.

Among non-Hispanic black teens, the birth rate declined by 6% from 2004 to 2005, and by 59% from 1991 to 2005, the CDC investigators found.

The overall decline in teen births was accounted for largely by a drop in births among 15- to 17-year-olds, for whom the birth rate fell by 3%, to 21.4 per 1,000.

Birth rates among girls in this age group have declined by 45% since 1991, the authors reported.

In contrast, birth rates among older teens (18- to 19-year-olds) and among young girls (10- to 14-years old) remained largely unchanged from 2004 to 2005. Among older teens, the 2005 birth rate of 69.9 per 1,000 represents a 26% decrease since 1991.

There was a slight (<1%) increase in births to women in their early 20s, but the rate for women ages 25 to 29 years, the highest rate among all age groups, was essentially unchanged in 2005, at 115 per 6/1,000.

Other key findings in the report, titled Births: Preliminary Data for 2005, included:

• There was a 4% increase in out-of-wedlock births from 2004 to 2005, with 46.1 per 1,000 unmarried girls and women from ages 15 to 44 giving birth in 2004, compared with 47.6/1,000 in 2005. The percentage of births to unmarried mothers also increased slightly in 2005, from 35.8% to 36.8%
• There was a 1% increase from 2004 to 2005 in the total number of U.S. births, from 4,112,052 in 2004, to 4,140,419 in 2005. The general fertility rate (number of births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44) also increased slightly to 66.7, up from 66.3 in 2004.
• The cesarean delivery rate increased by 4% over 2004, to 30.2% of all births, "a record high for the nation," the investigators commented. The cesarean rate has increased 46% since 1996, they added.
• The pre-term birth rate, defined as the percentage of infants delivered at less than 37 weeks of gestation, rose from 12.5 per 1,000 in 2004 to 12.7 per 1,000 in 2005. Overall, pre-term birth rates have increased 20% since 1990.
• The percentage of low birthweight neonates also increased slightly, from 8.1% of all live births in 2004 to 8.2 in 2005. The percentage of low birthweight babies has increased more than 20% since the mid-1980s.
• The trend toward childbearing among women in their 30s and 40s also continued to increase, with 46.3 births per 1,000 women from the ages of 35 to 39, the highest rates since 1965. For women aged 40 to 44 years, the birth rate rose 2%, to 9.1 per 1,000, the highest rate since 1968.