The newest and most detailed government data on teen birthrates show significant increases in 26 states and represent most regions of the USA.
The jumps are "fairly remarkable," says Paul Sutton, a demographer with the National Center for Health Statistics, which released the data. "We're seeing increases in both the number of teens having births and also the rate at which they are having births. Both of them are going up."
The federal data out Wednesday -- largely from birth certificates -- show widespread statistically significant increases for 2006, the most recent year for which data are available. In each of the two previous years -- 2004 to 2005 and 2003 to 2004 -- only one state had a significant increase.
The new state-by-state breakdown adds to previously released data and completes the picture for 2006, a year in which the fertility rate hit its highest level since 1971 and one that ended a 34% drop in births among women ages 15-19 from 1991 to 2005. In 2006, the teen birthrate increased 3%.
At the time, observers said they'd have to wait for 2007 numbers to know whether 2006 was a blip or a real shift in the trend. But the new state-by-state breakdown supports the idea that the downturn is over, says Kristin Moore of the non-profit Child Trends.
"It occurred among teens 15-17 and 18-19 and among whites, blacks and Hispanics, and now we know it occurred in most of the states," says Moore, who has tracked teen births for decades. "It appears to be quite a general pattern, which makes me think it might not be a blip but a turnaround."
The highest teen birthrates are in the South and Southwest; the lowest are in the Northeast.
Possible reasons for the higher rates vary from a more sexualized culture to a greater acceptance of births to unmarried women; also playing a role may be abstinence-only sex education and a possible de-emphasis on birth control. How abortion fits into the puzzle won't be known until late this year or early 2010, when 2006 abortion data are released.
The new data also reflect the first decline in the average age of first-time mothers since 1968, from 25.2 in 2005 to 25 in 2006. Demographers attribute it to the teen birth increases.
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