The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released statistics for 2005 that show the proportion of teenagers giving birth and the proportion of unmarried mothers in the US population went up for the first time since 1991.

The preliminary report was written by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), and is based on records from over 99 per cent of all US births in 2006. The final report is not expected to show different findings, just more detail.

Stephanie Ventura, head of the Reproductive Statistics Branch at CDC, said that:

“It’s way too early to know if this is the start of a new trend.”

“But given the long-term progress we’ve witnessed, this change is notable,” she added.

The report shows that:

  • From 2005 to 2006, the teen birth rate went up 3 per cent.

  • This is a rise of 40.5 live births per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19 years in 2005 to 41.9 per 1,000 in 2006.

  • This ended a 34 per cent gradual fall over 14 years from an all time peak of 61.8 per 1,000 in 1991.

  • The biggest increase was for non-Hispanic black teens whose rate rose 5 per cent in 2006.

  • For Hispanic teens the rate rose 2 per cent, 3 per cent for non-Hispanic white teens, and 4 per cent for American Indian teens.

  • For the youngest teens (10 – 14), the birth rate fell from 0.7 to 0.6 per 1,000.

  • This is a reduction in birth rate for this group of 5 per cent, to 6,405.

  • For older teens (18 – 19), the birth rate rose 4 per cent from 2005 to 2006, to 73 births per 1,000 population.

  • For mid teens (15 – 17) the birth rate rose 3 per cent, to 22 per 1,000.

  • The number of births to unmarried mothers rose nearly 8 per cent from 2005 to 2006.

  • This is a new record high in 2006 of 1,641,700, up 20 per cent since 2002, when the recent upward trend in non-marital births began.

  • The biggest rise in non-marital births was to mothers aged 25 – 29, among whom the increase from 2005 to 2006 was 10 per cent.

  • The rate of non-marital births also rose sharply by 7 per cent.

  • It rose from 47.5 births per 1,000 unmarried females in 2005 to 50.6 per 1,000 in 2006, a rise of 7 per cent a year, and 16 per cent overall since 2002.

  • The proportion of all US births to unmarried mothers in 2006 was 38.5 per cent, up from 36.9 per cent in 2005.

The report also reveals other significant figures. For example, it estimates that total births in the US have gone up by 127,647, a rise of 3 per cent from 2005, rising to 4,265,996 in 2006. This rise is across age groups, for women in their 20s, 30s, and early 40s, as well as teenagers.

The rates of Caesarean delivery also went up again by 3 per cent from 2005 to 2006, with 31.1 per cent of all births using this method, a new record high. The proportion of all births delivered by cesarean has increased by 50 per cent over the last ten years.

The report also estimates that preterm birthss rose slightly between 2005 and 2006, as did the low birthweight birth rate, which has increased by 19 per cent since 1990.

For the first time since 1971, the birth rate has gone above the replacement rate; the rate at which a given generation can replace itself.

“Births: Final Data for 2005.”
Joyce A. Martin, Brady E. Hamilton, Paul D. Sutton, Stephanie J. Ventura, Fay Menacker, Sharon Kirmeyer, and Martha L. Munson.
National Vital Statistics Report, Vol 6, No 6, 5th December, 2007.
Issued by the Division of Vital Statistics of the CDC.

Click here for full report (PDF).

Written by: Catharine Paddock