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 www http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns

Preventing Teen 

Pregnancy in the US

More than 400,000 teen girls, aged 15-19 years, give birth 

each year in the US. The media often glamorize teens having 

sexual intercourse and teen parenting, but the reality is starkly 

different. Having a child during the teen years carries high 

costs—emotional, physical, and financial—to the mother, 

father, child, and community. Parents, educators, public health 

and medical professionals, and community organizations all 

have a role to play in reducing teen pregnancy. During the past 

20 years, the rate of teen girls having children has dropped by 

about 40% to its lowest level since records began being kept 

70 years ago. Despite this good news, there is still much work 

to do, because teen pregnancy has such a huge impact on the 

future of America’s children.

Learn what you can do to reduce teen pregnancies.

 See page 4

Want to learn more? Visit

1 of 10 new mothers 

is a teen.

Teen childbearing costs 

US taxpayers more than 

$9 billion each year.

1,100

About 1,100 teen girls give 

birth every day.

1 of 10

 

Billion

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion 

Division of Reproductive Health

April 2011
Problem

2

Breaking the cycle of 

teen pregnancy

2. Prevention efforts work by teaching 

teens how and why to delay starting 

sex and steps that they need to take 

if they become sexually active. Key 

components include sex education 

that has been shown to work, support 

for parent-teen communication about 

preventing pregnancy, and ready access 

to sexual and reproductive health 

services. Sexually active teens should 

have access to effective and affordable 

birth control. 

Among high school students:

◊ Nearly half have had sexual intercourse 

(about 46% for both girls and boys), 

compared to 54% in 1991.

◊ About 12% of sexually active boys and girls 

did not use birth control the last time they 

had sex, compared to 16% in 1991.

◊ About 9% of sexually active teens used 

two methods (such as a condom with birth 

control pills or Depo-Provera, an injectable 

birth control) to avoid pregnancy, 

HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted 

diseases, compared to 5% in 1999.

Among all teens:

◊ About 65% of girls and 53% of boys 

received formal sex education about both 

abstinence and birth control.

◊ About 44% of girls and 27% of boys had 

spoken with their parents about both 

abstinence and birth control. 

1. Preventing teen pregnancy is a 

priority because of the huge economic, 

social, and health costs on teen 

parents and their families.

◊ Teen birth rates in the US are unacceptably 

high. About 4% of all teenage girls give birth 

each year. Teen births represent 10% of the 4 

million births each year.

◊ Teen birth rates in the US are up to 9 

times higher than in most other developed 

countries.

◊ Hispanic and black teen girls are about 2-3 

times more likely to give birth than white teen 

girls. Use of birth control is lower among 

sexually active black and Hispanic high school 

students than white students. 

◊ Girls born to teen parents are almost 

33% more likely to become teen parents 

themselves, continuing the cycle of teen 

pregnancy. 

◊ About 50% of teen mothers get a high 

school diploma by age 22, compared with 

90% of teen girls who do not give birth.

◊ Teen childbearing costs US taxpayers about 

$9 billion each year. 

US Birth Rates for Teens 15-19 Years by 

Race/Ethnicity, 1991 and 2009 

Total White Black Hispanic

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Live births/1,000 women in age group

1991 2009

SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics; 2010.
3

Teen Births

Bulgaria

United States

United Kingdom

Romania

Ireland

Israel

Canada

Germany

France

Norway

Italy

Sweden

Denmark

Netherlands

Switzerland 4

5

6

6

7

9

10

10

14

14

17

27

39

39

43

10 20 30 40 50

SOURCE: UN Demographic Yearbook (all data for 2008, except US 2009 preliminary data).

Teen birth rates in the US are higher than in some other developed countries.

Teen birth rates internationally, per 1,000 girls aged 15-19 years, 2008 and 2009

AL

AZ AR

CA CO

NM

DE

FL

GA

ID

IL IN

IA

KS

KY

LA

ME

MD

MA

MI

MN

MS

MO

MT

NV NE

NH

NJ

AK

HI

NY

NC

ND

OH

OK

OR

PA

CT RI

SC

SD

TN

TX

UT

VT

VA

WA

WV

WI WY

Teen birth rates were lowest in the Northeast and upper Midwest and 

highest across the southern states.

Teen birth rates by state per 1,000 girls aged 15-19 years, 2009

SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics; 2009.

51-64

31-40

41-50

16-30

Teen births per 1,000
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 www http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns

 www http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

What Can Be Done

The US government is

◊ Expanding prevention resources through the 

President’s Teen Pregnancy Initiative, which 

involves the Office of Adolescent Health, 

Administration for Children and Families, 

Office of Population Affairs, CDC and many 

other DHHS agencies.

◊ Working to reach the Healthy People 2020 

national objectives to reduce unintended teen 

pregnancy and improve adolescent health. 

◊ Recommending programs that reach teens that 

have been demonstrated to work, help parents 

communicate with their teens, and improve 

sexual and reproductive health services. To 

learn more about CDC’s role in these and 

other activities, visit http://www.cdc.gov/

teenpregnancy.

Health care providers can

◊ Provide teen-friendly, culturally appropriate 

services for sexual and reproductive health. 

◊ Increase the availability of birth control to 

sexually active teens and provide instruction 

on using methods consistently and correctly.

◊ Offer teens long-acting reversible birth control 

(for example, IUDs and long-acting implants).

Communities can

◊ Promote youth development programs 

that keep teens in school, offer after-school 

supervised activities, and teach life skills. 

◊ Make it easy for teens who are already sexually 

active to get services, including birth control, 

other medical care, and sex education that has 

been proven to work.

◊ Support youth programs for teens at risk. These 

include girls who have already been pregnant, 

and boys and girls who have a parent or sibling 

who has been a teen parent, live in foster care, 

or attend school or programs for troubled teens. 

Parents, guardians and caregivers can

◊ Talk to your teens about the importance of 

sexual and reproductive health, including 

delaying sex, avoiding pregnancy, using 

birth control, having respectful and honest 

relationships, and being aware of dating 

violence.

◊ Know where your teens are, what they are 

doing, and who they are with, particularly 

after school.

◊ Talk to community leaders about the need 

for effective programs that prevent teen 

pregnancy and address overall sexual and 

reproductive health.

Teens can

◊ Understand that both boys and girls share 

responsibility for avoiding teen pregnancy. 

◊ Resist peer pressure to start having sex before 

you are emotionally ready.

◊ Talk openly about sexual health issues with 

parents, other adults you trust, and peers.

◊ If having sex, use birth control correctly and 

consistently every time.

For more information, please contact 

Telephone: 1-800-CDC-INFO (232-4636)

TTY: 1-888-232-6348

E-mail: cdcinfo@cdc.gov

Web: www.cdc.gov

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30333

Publication date: 04/05/2011

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