Teen birth rate highest in Mississippi

The U.S. teen birth rate increased in more than half of all 50 states in 2006, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said. The CDC had reported in December 2007 that the teen birth rate for the nation as a whole increased for the first time in 15 years in 2006 -- from 40.5 births per 1,000 women ages 15-19 in 2005 to 41.9 in 2006. That information was based on 99 percent of all U.S. birth certificates for 2006. The latest report from CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, "Births: Final Data for 2006," includes state-by-state teen birth rate information based on all birth certificates issued in the United States in 2006. The data show teen birth rates were highest in the South and Southwest, with the highest rate recorded in Mississippi at 68.4 per 1,000 women, followed by New Mexico at 64.1 per 1,000 and Texas at 63.1 per 1,000. Teen birth rates in 2006 were lowest in the Northeast, with the lowest rates occurring in New Hampshire at 18.7 per 1,000 women, Vermont 20.8 per 1,000 and Massachusetts per 1,000 21.3. The only states with a decrease in teen birth rates between 2005 and 2006 were North Dakota, Rhode Island and New York.