Teen Births In US Are Declining
In “To Your Health,” the Washington Post reported from a CDC statement stated that teen births in the US are in decline. The report said that adolescent birth rates have “fallen to an all-time low,” down from a peak of 61.8 births per 1,000 in 1991 to 24.2 per 1,000 in 2014.
The decline in the last decade “has occurred in all regions in the country and among all races,” and “appears to be accelerating.”, the Post said and many experts agree this is the result of teens having better access to contraception, and surprisingly, studies have shown that it is also because teens are having less sex. Nevertheless, CDC director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, stated that “The United States has made remarkable progress in reducing both teen pregnancy and racial and ethnic differences…but the reality is, too many American teens are still having babies.”
The Los Angeles Times provided additional remarks by Dr. Frieden “By better understanding the many factors that contribute to teen pregnancy we can better design, implement, evaluate, and improve prevention interventions and further reduce disparities.”
And the AP reported that, “The Hispanic teen birth rate fell by half over about eight years, and the black teen birth rate dropped nearly that much,” the report details. Even with such declines, however, “the white teen birth rate is still only half as high,” indicating “profound disparities” between races.
The designation for our last ‘baby’ generation was called ‘Millennials’. Maybe we should call the next generation “‘Declieiales’.