According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all states but West Virginia and North Dakota showed “significant” drops in the teenage birth rate over the past 5 years. The mountain states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Utah saw birth rates fall by 30 percent or more. The national rate has been falling since 1991. There is a record low rate of 31 births per 1,000 teenagers compared ot 42 births per 1000 five years ago.
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut have the lowest rates. The South leads with the highest rates led by Arkansas and Mississippi. In Arkansas the majority of births are to white females, while in Mississippi, the majority are black.
Hispanic rates are much higher than those for blacks and white. In most of the states with large Hispanic populations, California, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Georgia, the birth rates have not declined as much. Texas has the highest teen birth rate. Two-thirds of the almost 43,000 births were to Hispanic mothers.