After experiencing its highest teen pregnancy rates, the United States is now witnessing its lowest in at least nine decades.

 

In 1990 the rate of teenagers becoming pregnant (116.9 per 1,000 individuals) reached a modern high. Since then, the rate has plummeted. By 2008 (the most recent year for which complete figures are available), the teen pregnancy rate was down to 67.8 per 1,000 individuals.

 

Although pregnancy rates are not available for the years before 1972, birth rates by age groups are known going back to 1917. The 2009 teen birth rate of 39.1 per 1,000 is the lowest ever. Between 1954 and 1960 the teenage birth rate was consistently above 90 per 1,000. Since 1999, each year’s rate has been below 50. Prior to 1999, the only year in which the teenage birth rate dipped that low was the Depression year of 1933.

 

In addition to the reduction in teens becoming pregnant, the number of those under 20 having abortions also has dropped significantly. The teenage abortion rate in 2008 was 17.8 per 1,000 women. According to the Guttmacher Institute, this figure is the lowest since abortion was legalized in 1973 and represents a 59% drop compared to the peak year of 1988, when the rate was 43.5.

 

From 1986 to 2008, the percentage of teenage pregnancies terminated by abortion dropped from 46% to 31%. This being the case, researchers attribute the teen birth rate decline to increased use of contraception and, to a lesser extent, delayed sexual activity.

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births and Abortions, 2008: National Trends by Age, Race and Ethnicity (by Kathryn Kost and Stanley Henshaw, Guttmacher Institute) (pdf)

Teen Birth Rate: Mississippi Quadruples New Hampshire (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)