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Teenage Fertility Rate
The Teenage Fertility Rate is the birth rate for women 15 to 19 years of age. Calculation of
the teenage fertility rate is identical to the general fertility rate except that it uses data for
women 15 to 19 years of age.
In 1999, for example, there were 6,419 births to Arkansas women 15 to 19 years of age.
There were an estimated 94,477 women of that age resident in the state that year.
Therefore, the Teenage Fertility Rate = (6,419 / 94,477) X 1,000 = 67.9 live births per
1,000 women 15-19 years of age. The comparable rate for the nation as a whole was 49.6
in 1999. As with the general fertility rate, the calculation excludes all induced abortions,
fetal deaths, and spontaneous abortions.
The average teenage fertility rate for the period of 1995 through 1999 was 72.1. Teenage
fertility rates are highest in eastern Arkansas in the Mississippi Delta region. Phillips
County had the highest average fertility rate for women 15-19 years of age at 135.8 while
Faulkner County had the lowest at 36.1. The Southeast PHR had the highest average teen
fertility rate at 88.0. The lowest rate, 59.1, was in the Central PHR.
Both the Arkansas and the U.S. teenage fertility rates rose consistently in the late '80s but
began to decline in the early '90s. The national rate has declined since 1991 by a total of
18 percent. The Arkansas teenage fertility rate, however, has been up and down since
1991. The 1999 rate showed another decline from 1998, falling from 70.7 to 67.9.
As with the general fertility rate, the teenage fertility rate differs significantly by race. The
teenage fertility rate for White teens for the 1995 - 1999 period was 62.5, compared to
103.2 for Black teens.
Similarities between the state's general fertility rate and the teenage fertility rate are
generally to be expected, since births to Arkansas women aged 15 through 19 typically
constitute almost one-fifth of all resident births. Moreover, the same social and economic
factors that affect the general fertility rate are reflected in the teen fertility rate. However,
while the general fertility rate showed no change in rates from 1998 to 1999, the teenage
fertility rate continued to show a steady decrease from a rate of 75.4 in 1996 to the current
rate of 67.9 in 1999.
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