Return to Table of Contents Go to Map
Births to Unmarried Teens
Births to Unmarried Teens is the percent of all births to unmarried teens
15-19 years of age. Births to Unmarried Teens combines Births to Teens and
Births to Unmarried Women. Almost two-thirds (66.3%) of the Arkansas teens
who gave birth in 1996 were unmarried. Many of the factors that are
associated with births to unmarried women are also associated with births to
unmarried teens. By definition, unmarried teen mothers are young and have not
completed their formal educations. They are also frequently poor and receive
inadequate prenatal care.
Calculation of the Births to Unmarried Teens percent is identical to the
Births to Unmarried Women percent, except that it uses data for women 15-19
years of age. In 1996, there were 4,651 births to unmarried teens (aged
15-19), out of a total of 36,356 births. Therefore, the percent of Births to
Unmarried Teens = (4,651 / 36,356) X 100 = 12.8 percent. For comparison, 9.6
percent of all births in the United States in 1996 were to unmarried teens.
Births to unmarried teens were highest in eastern Arkansas in the Delta
region. For the 1992-1996 period, Phillips County had the highest percentage
of births to unmarried teens, accounting for 26.8 percent of all live births.
Alternatively, Montgomery County had the lowest percentage of births to
unmarried teens during the period, with only 5.8 percent.
The patterns of percent of births to unmarried teens for the ADH Health
Management Areas closely reflect those of births to unmarried women, as might
be expected, since births to unmarried teens account for roughly 38 percent of
births to unmarried women. During the five-year period, Area 9 had the
highest average with 22.7 percent and Area 10 had the lowest with 8.0 percent.
Once again, races are significantly different. The average percent of births
to White unmarried teens from 1992-1996 was 7.7, while the percent of births
to Black unmarried teens was 27.5.
There has been a slight long-term increase in Arkansas births to unmarried
teens. In 1989, approximately 10.7 percent of all births were to unmarried
teens. By 1994, this percentage had increased to 12.4. In 1995, the percent
of births to unmarried teens dipped very slightly to 12.2, but rebounded in
1996 to 12.8 percent, a significant increase over 1995.
As with births to unmarried women, the reader should be cautioned that the
percent of births to unmarried teens is influenced by several factors. These
include the fertility of both unmarried and married teens, as well as their
relative distributions in the population. While a fertility rate based on the
number of unmarried teens in the population is more desirable, such
information is only available for census years.
Return to Table of Contents Go to Map