Highest teen birthrates are in the South

The highest teenage birthrates in the U.S. are clustered in Southern states and the lowest in the Northeast and upper Midwest, government researchers said Wednesday.

Birthrates fell to an average of 41.5 births per 1,000 female teens in 2008 from 42.5 in 2007, with 14 states seeing declines. That followed an increase from 2005 to 2007, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.

The differences are important because teen parents are less likely to pursue higher education, their children are less likely to be healthy, and they earn less on average than people who have children later.

Teenage birthrates by state varied from a low of 19.8 babies per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19 in New Hampshire to a high of 65.7 babies per 1,000 teens in Mississippi. In California, the rate was 38.4 babies per 1,000 teens.

Teen birthrates are typically higher among blacks and Latinos, with Latino teens giving birth at nearly three times the rate of whites, and blacks giving birth at nearly two times the rate of white teens in 2007.

But population differences alone cannot not explain the regional differences in birthrates, the researchers said.

Education and income, sexual activity and contraceptive use, and attitudes among teens toward pregnancy and childbearing are all factors, the researchers said.

Birthrates for white teens in 2007 ranged from 4.3 per 1,000 in the District of Columbia to 54.8 births per 1,000 in Mississippi.

For black teens, birthrates ranged from 17.4 in Hawaii to 95.1 in Wisconsin. And for Latino teens, birthrates ranged from 31.1 in Maine to 188.3 in Alabama.

In addition to New Hampshire, states with the lowest teen birthrates include Massachusetts, Vermont and Connecticut. The states with the highest rates, after Mississippi, were New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Teen birthrates in the U.S. are higher than in a number of other developed countries. In Canada, the teen birthrate is 13 per 1,000, a third of the U.S. rate. And in Germany, the teen birthrate is 10 per 1,000.

Times staff writer Eryn Brown contributed to this report.