Births: Preliminary Data for 2008

The teen birth rate in the United States fell 2 percent between 2007 and 2008, after rising the previous two years, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. There were 4,251,095 teen births in 2008, down from an all-time high of 4,317,119 in 2007.

The report, which is based on birth records for 2008, finds that there were 41.5 births per 1,000 teenagers aged 15-19 years, down from 42.5 in 2007 and 41.9 in 2006. The birth rate for Hispanic teenagers fell to the lowest level ever reported in the two decades for which data are available. It increased by 4 percent to 9.9 births per 1,000 women aged 40-44 -- the highest rate since 1967. Only the youngest age group, 10 to 14, saw no change in the 2008 preliminary birth rate compared to previous years.

According to the report, the rate of childbearing by unmarried women increased to historic levels in 2008, and the rate of c-section delivery rose for the twelfth straight year. The data mark the second straight year of decline in the preterm birth rate, following a 20 percent increase between 1990 and 2006.

Read the report.