October 31, 2005 -- Teen Birth Rate Continues to Decline, but Slowly

In a preliminary look at national birth data for the year 2004, the National Center for Health Statistics in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said October 28 that teenage birth rates declined last year, though at a slower pace than in any previous year since declines began in 1991. The slightly encouraging news is that the birth rate for females aged 15 to 19 reached a low of 41.2 births per thousand in 2004, 1 percent lower than in 2003 (when the rate was 41.6 per thousand) and 33 percent lower than in 1991. More than four of every five births to teenagers were to unmarried young women. A trend toward childbearing by unmarried women of all ages continued in 2004, with a record high of almost 1.5 million such births. Overall, fertility was high in 2004; more than 4 million babies were born, many of them to women over the age of 40. “Preliminary Births for 2004” is available online at www.cdc.gov/nchs.