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Less Than 12 Years Education
Births to women with Less than 12 Years Education is the percent of all births
to women who have received less than 12 years of formal education. More than
any other single factor, education defines the woman's life-long economic
opportunities (and those of her children), her access to medical services for
herself and her children, and her ability to make effective use of health
information.
Births to women with Less than 12 Years Education is calculated as a percent of
all births. For example, of the 36,831 births in Arkansas in 1998, 8,329 were
to women who had received less than 12 years of formal education. The percent
of births to women with Less than 12 Years Education = 8,329 / 36,831 X 100
= 22.6 percent.
The highest percentages of births to women with less than 12 years of education
are found primarily in the eastern part of the state (Mississippi, Poinsett,
Crittenden, Woodruff, St. Francis, Lee, Monroe, and Phillips counties) and in
the southwestern counties of Sevier and Hempstead. For the 1994-1998 period,
the average percentage of births to women with Less than 12 years of education
ranged from a high of 41.5 percent in Sevier County to a low of 11.8 percent in
Faulkner County. The five-year average among ADH Health Management Areas ranged
from a high of 32.3 in Area 9 to a low of 16.3 in Area 8.
The percent of births to women with less than 12 years of education also differs
by race. For the five-year period from 1994 through 1998, the average percent
was 21.2 for Whites and 28.4 for Blacks.
Nationally, more than three-fourths of women who gave birth in 1998 had at least
12 years of education (78 percent). In Arkansas, the statistics are very
similar, with 77 percent of all women who gave birth having at least 12 years
of schooling.
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