Trends in Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing

Teen Births

In 2016, there were 20.3 births for every 1,000 adolescent females ages 15-19, or 209,809 babies born to females in this age group.¹ Births to teens ages 15-19 account for 5.3 percent of all births in 2016. Nearly nine in ten (89 percent) of these births occurred outside of marriage.¹ The 2016 teen birth rate (births per 1,000 females ages 15-19 in a given year) is down nine percent from 2015, when the birth rate was 22.3, and down 67 percent from 1991 when it was at a record high of 61.8.¹ The teen birth rate has declined more or less continuously over the past quarter century, and is at the lowest level ever recorded. Still, the teen birth rate in the United States remains higher than that in many other developed countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom.²

Not all teen births are first births. In 2016, one in six (17 percent) births to 15- to 19-year-olds were to females who already had one or more births.¹ Avoiding repeat teen births is one of the goals of OAH’s Pregnancy Assistance Fund (PAF) grant program to states and tribes. Grantees may use PAF Program funds to help expectant and parenting teens complete high school or earn postsecondary degrees, as well as to gain access to health care, child care, family housing, and other critical supports. The money can also be used to improve services for pregnant women who are victims of domestic violence and to increase public awareness and education efforts surrounding teen pregnancy prevention, among other activities. Through PAF Program grants, OAH also supports work with adolescent males who become young fathers. Find more information about the Pregnancy Assistance Fund.

Variations in Teen Birth Rates Across Populations

Teen birth rates differ substantially by age, racial and ethnic group, and region of the country. Most adolescents who give birth are 18 or older; in 2016, 74 percent of all teen births occurred to 18- to 19-year-olds.¹ Birth rates are also higher among Hispanic and black adolescents than among their white counterparts. In 2016, Hispanic adolescent females ages 15-19 had a higher birth rate (31.9 births per 1,000 adolescent females) than black adolescent females (29.3) and white adolescent females (14.3) (see Figure 1).¹ To help put these differences in perspective, estimates from 2013 show that eight percent of white adolescent females will give birth by their 20^th birthday, as will 16 percent of black adolescent females and 17 percent of Hispanic adolescent females.³

Although Hispanics still have a higher teen birth rate than their black and white peers, the rate has declined substantially in recent years. Since 2007, the teen birth rate among Hispanics has declined by 58 percent, compared with declines of 53 percent for blacks and 47 percent for whites.¹

Figure 1: Birth rates per 1,000 females ages 15-19, by race and Hispanic origin of mother, 1990-2016

Source: Martin, J.A., Hamilton, B.E., Osterman, M.J., Driscoll, A.K., & Drake, P. (2018). Births: Final data for 2016. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.

Table 1: Birth rates per 1,000 females ages 15-19, by race and Hispanic origin of mother, 1990-2016

Teen birth rates also vary substantially across regions and states. In 2016, the lowest teen birth rates were reported in the Northeast, while rates were highest in states across the southern part of the country (see Figure 2).¹ See how your state compares on birth rates, pregnancy rates, sexual activity, and contraceptive use with OAH’s reproductive health state fact sheets.

Figure 2: Birth rates per 1,000 females ages 15 – 19 year olds, by state, 2016

Source: Martin, J.A., Hamilton, B.E., Osterman, M.J., Driscoll, A.K., & Drake, P. (2018). Births: Final data for 2016. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/teen-births/teenbirths.htm 

Table 2: Birth rates per 1,000 females ages 15-19, by state, 2016

Teen Pregnancies

The national teen pregnancy rate (number of pregnancies per 1,000 females ages 15-19) has declined almost continuously over the last quarter of the century. The teen pregnancy rate includes pregnancies that end in a live birth, as well as those that end in abortion or miscarriage (fetal loss).* The teen pregnancy rate declined by 63 percent in less than 25 years — from 117.6 pregnancies per 1,000 females ages 15-19 in 1990 to 43.4 in 2013 (the most recent year in which data are available).⁴ According to recent research, this decline is due to the combination of an increased percentage of adolescents who are waiting to have sexual intercourse and the increased use of effective contraceptives by teens.^4,5

About 77 percent of teen pregnancies are unplanned. In other words, they are unwanted or occurred “too soon,” according to a national survey of adolescents.⁶ In 2013, the majority of pregnancies to adolescent females ages 15-19 in the United States — an estimated 61 percent — ended in a live birth; 15 percent ended in a miscarriage; and 25 percent ended in an abortion. The rate of abortions among adolescents is the lowest since abortion was legalized in 1973 and is 76 percent lower than its peak in 1988.⁴

* The teen pregnancy rate is the sum all live births, abortions, and miscarriages (or fetal losses) per 1,000 adolescent females ages 15-19 in a given year.

Characteristics Associated with Adolescent Childbearing

Numerous individual, family, and community characteristics have been linked to adolescent childbearing. For example, adolescents who are enrolled in school and engaged in learning (including participating in after-school activities, having positive attitudes toward school, and performing well educationally) are less likely than are other adolescents to have or to father a baby. ⁷ At the family level, adolescents with mothers who gave birth as teens and/or whose mothers have only a high school degree are more likely to have a baby before age 20 than are teens whose mothers were older at their birth or who attended at least some college. In addition, having lived with both biological parents at age 14 is associated with a lower risk of a teen birth.⁸ At the community level, adolescents who live in wealthier neighborhoods with strong levels of employment are less likely to have or to father a baby than are adolescents in neighborhoods in which income and employment opportunities are more limited.⁷

Footnotes