Indicator Report - Teen Birth Rate Girls Age 15-19, by County 2008-2010

Why Is This Important?

Early pregnancy and childbearing is closely linked to a host of other critical social issues, including poverty and income disparity, overall child well-being, out-of-wedlock births, and education, to name just a few. Simply put, if more children in this country were born to parents who are ready and able to care for them, we would see a significant reduction in a host of social problems afflicting children in the United States, from school failure and crime to child abuse and neglect.

Teen childbearing is costly to the public sector - federal, state, and local governments and the taxpayers who support them. Reducing teen pregnancy will enhance overall child well-being. The children of teen mothers bear the greatest burden of teen pregnancy and childbearing, and are at significantly increased risk for a number of economic, social, and health problems.

Preventing teen pregnancy is critical to improving not only the lives of today's young women and men but also to enhancing the future prospects of their children. Indeed, one of the surest ways to improve overall child well-being is to reduce the proportion of children born to teen mothers.

Linking Teen Pregnancy Prevention to Other Critical Social Issues, March 2010, National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Washington DC.

Teen Birth Rate Girls Age 15-19, by County 2008-2010

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Data Sources

Birth Certificate Data, Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics (BVRHS), New Mexico Department of Health.

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Definition

Teen Birth Rate is the number of births to females in the age group per 1,000 of the age group female population.

How We Calculated the Rates

Numerator: The number of births to females in the age group per year.
Denominator: The population of females in the age group per year.

Page Content Updated On 04/17/2012, Published on 06/14/2012
New Mexico Department of Health Family Planning Program, P.O. Box 26110, Santa Fe, NM 87502. Susan Lovett, Program Manager, (505) 476-8882, susan.lovett@state.nm.us
The information provided above is from the New Mexico Department of Health's NM-IBIS web site (http://ibis.health.state.nm.us). The information published on this website may be reproduced without permission. Please use the following citation: "Retrieved Thu, 23 May 2013 6:58:42 from New Mexico Department of Health, Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health Web site: http://ibis.health.state.nm.us".

Content updated: Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:14:00 MDT