Teenage birth rates have fallen to their lowest levels ever, new provisional federal data published Thursday found.
The report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, showed the birth rate among 15- to 19-year-olds in 2022 was 13.5 per 1,000 females.
That’s a 3% drop from the rate of 13.9 per 1,000 in 2021 and a record low in the United States.
Aside from an increase in 2006 and 2007, the teen birth rate in the U.S. has been continuously declining since 1991.
“I’m excited the U.S. has made significant progress in reducing pregnancies among youth,” Dr. Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, dean of the Duke University School of Nursing and whose research interests include teen sexual and reproductive health, told ABC News. “The all-time low should be an indication that we’re continuing to move in the right direction.”
For the report, the authors looked at birth certificate data received and processed by the NCHS.
They found that birth rates declined not just across all teens, but for both younger (ages 15–17) and older (ages 18–19) groups as well.
There was a small drop among 15- to 17-year-olds from 5.6 per 1,000 in 2021 to 5.5 per 1,000 in 2022 but a larger drop among 18- to 19-year-olds from 26.6 per 1,000 to 25.6 per 1,000.
The report did not discuss reasons behind the drop, but experts says it’s a combination of factors including more teens abstaining from sex, contraceptives becoming more easily available to teens and more pregnancy prevention programs aimed at teenagers.
Dr. Monica Woll Rosen, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Michigan Medicine who specializes in pediatric and adolescent gynecology, said there’s also been an increase in popularity among teens for long-acting reversible contraception, like intrauterine devices (IUDs).
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