A new report from NCHS, “Births: Preliminary Data for 2008,” found that the teen birth rate in the U.S. fell 2 percent between 2007 and 2008, after rising the previous two years. In 2008, the birth rate declined for all age groups under 20 years, except for the youngest teenagers ages 10-14, which remained unchanged at 0.6 births per 1,000 females. The report also found the following:
- The birth rate for U.S. teenagers ages 15-19 fell 2 percent in 2008 to 41.5 per 1,000, reversing a brief two-year increase that had halted the long-term decline from 1991 to 2005.
- The birth rate for unmarried women declined about 2 percent to 52.0 per 1,000 aged 15-44. This was the first decline since 2001 and 2002. However, the number and percentage of births to unmarried women each increased to historic levels. The preliminary number of U.S. births in 2008 was 4,251,095, down nearly 2 percent from 2007.
- The estimated total fertility rate in 2008 was 2,085.5 births per 1,000 women, 2 percent lower than the rate in 2007.
- The cesarean delivery rate rose to 32.3 percent in 2008, the twelfth consecutive year of increase. Increases were seen among women of all age groups, and most race and ethnic groups.
Below is a graph showing the birth rate trends for teens from 1980-2008:
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Posted by Setareh Kamali 
