The rate dropped consistently throughout the 1990s, falling 20 percent for the decade. They realize that the risks in the 1990s were quite a bit different than the risks their parents took in the '60s and '70s. The drop was particularly sharp among girls ages 15 to 17, whose rate fell 6 percent from its level in 1998 to 28.7 births per 1,000. The teen birth rate fell across racial lines, most dramatically among black teens, whose rate dropped 38 percent from 1991 to 1999. They said ad campaigns, community awareness groups and even seeing friends have children encouraged teens to be more careful - or stop having sex altogether.
Kids are really concerned about catching STDs.
They want to hear about values, about relationships, about love. Peter Brandt, an issue response director for the Focus on the Family ministry, said more abstinence is the obvious reason why the birth rate has fallen. Even the country's record-breaking economy may have something to do with the falling teen birth rate. As more jobs with good pay became available, some teens put off plans to have families. Analysts pointed out that in the 1940s and 1950s, when the statistics were first kept, people married younger.