HHS
Report Shows Teen Birth Rate Falls to New Record Low in 2001
For Immediate Release
Thursday, June 6, 2002
Contact: NCHS Press Office
(301) 458-4800
CDC Office of Media Relations (404) 639-3286
E-mail: paoquery@cdc.gov
Births: Preliminary
Data for 2001. NVSR Vol. 50, No. 10. 20 pp. (PHS) 2002-1120. View/download PDF 1.3 MB
HHS
Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today released a new report showing birthrates
among teenagers fell for the 10th straight year to a new record low in
2001.
“This
is an important milestone in our fight against teen pregnancy,”
Secretary Thompson said. “The research shows us that when teens postpone
parenthood, they improve their lives and the lives of their children.
While we’ve seen remarkable progress, we must continue our efforts in
local communities to reach teens with the message that everyone benefits
when they wait until they are truly ready to start a family.”
Prepared
by HHS’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the report,
“Births: Preliminary Data for 2001,” shows the teen birthrate dropped
5 percent last year, from 48.5 births per 1,000 females aged 15-19 years in 2000
to 45.9 in 2001. Since 1991, the teen birthrate has declined 26
percent.
Progress
was greatest among younger teens; the birthrate for teenagers 15-17 years fell 8 percent in 2001, and has dropped 35 percent since 1991.
The rate for teens 18-19 years of age dropped 4 percent in 2001 and has
fallen 20 percent since 1991.
The
reduction in teen birthrates from 2000 to 2001 was greatest among black
teenagers (8 percent). Since 1991, the rates for black teenagers
15-19 years have dropped 37 percent. Between 2000 and 2001,
birthrates for teens declined among all race and ethnic groups, including
non-Hispanic white teenagers (7 percent); Asian or Pacific Islander teens
(5 percent); American Indian teens (3 percent); and Hispanic teens (2
percent).
In
addition, while the overall number of births to unmarried women rose
slightly in 2001, births to unmarried teens declined.
The
prevention of teen births has important health consequences for both the
teen mother and her infant. Teenagers are least likely to receive
timely prenatal care, more likely to smoke when pregnant, and more likely
to have a low birthweight infant.
Based
on approximately 96 percent of birth certificates reported to the States
last year, the CDC report also shows a 7 percent increase in the cesarean
delivery rate between 2000 and 2001. Nearly a quarter of all births
(24.4 percent) were delivered by cesarean method in 2001, up from 22.9
percent in 2000. After a steady decline in cesarean deliveries from
1989 to 1996, there has been a 17 percent increase over 5 years.
The
primary cesarean rate (births to women with no previous cesarean)
increased 5 percent, from 16.1 percent in 2000 to 16.9 percent in 2001.
The primary cesarean rate has increased 16 percent in the last 4 years.
Meanwhile, the rate of vaginal births after previous cesarean fell 20
percent between 2000 and 2001, and has fallen 72 percent since 1996.
Other
findings of the report include:
A
total of 4,040,121 births were reported in the United States in 2001, a
slight drop from the 2000 total of 4,058,814.
The
birthrate for women ages 20-24 years declined 2 percent in 2001, reversing a
slight increase in the rate over the past 5 years. Birthrates
were up among women ages 25 years and over.
The
rate of births per 1,000 unmarried women aged 15-44 years declined slightly
between 2000 and 2001. However, the proportion of births to
unmarried women rose slightly in 2001, from 33.2 percent in 2000 to 33.4
percent in 2001.
The
percentage of women receiving early prenatal care improved to 83.4 percent
in 2001, up from 83.2 percent in 2000. While no change was reported
in prenatal care utilization among non-Hispanic white women, improvements
were noted for black and Hispanic women.
The
rate of low birthweight babies held steady at 7.6 percent, unchanged
since 1998.
“This
report provides us with very timely information about some of our most
important maternal and infant health indicators,” CDC Acting Director
David Fleming, M.D., said. “While we’ve made excellent progress
in reducing teen births and in improving the number of expectant women who
receive timely prenatal care, much work remains –- last year almost a
half million teens gave birth, and one of every four black and Hispanic
mothers did not receive timely prenatal care.”
The
report is available on CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics Web
site.