U.S. Teen Birth Rate Drops to Lowest Level

The birth rate among teenagers has gone down significantly in 2011, a new federal report says.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the number of women who conceive and become mothers before completing 20 years reached the lowest level, by dropping 8 percent in 2011, compared to 2010. They found only a minority (3 percent) aged between 15 and 19 becoming mothers in that period.

The report also found the rates going down from the past two decades, dropping down to 49 percent in 2011 since 1991.

"There is lots of good news in the report," Brady Hamilton, lead author of the study, told NBC News.

Hamilton and colleagues also found the possibility of 3.6 million additional births among teens by 2011, if the rates in 1991 had continued to increase.

"If the rates in 1991 had remained the same, there would have been 3.6 million additional births to moms aged 15-19," he said to NBC News. "This has had a real impact."

The report comes as a relief, as the country has been struggling to prevent teen pregnancy, with efforts going on for a long time to bring down birth rates among teens through different ways, including spreading awareness through reality shows, campaigns and distributing free birth pills.

According to CDC, pregnancy is the sole reason behind young girls discontinuing their studies. Only 50 percent of teen mothers complete their high school education, compared with 90 percent of women giving birth in adulthood.

Apart from teen pregnancy and birth details, the report also found an increase in the number of mothers who delay their motherhood to their late 30s or early 40s.

"The economy has declined, and that certainly is a factor that goes into people's decisions about having a child," Hamilton told Reuters Health. "Women may say to themselves, 'It's not a particularly good time right now... let's wait a little bit.'" 

The report was published Feb. 11 in the online issue of Pediatrics.