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Less Than 12 Years Education
Births to women with Less than 12 Years Education is defined as 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 are calculated as a percent of all births.
For example, of the 36,672 births in Arkansas in 1999, 8,226 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 = 8,226 / 36,672 X 100 = 22.4 percent. This is the same as the
national percentage.
Sevier County, located in the Southwest region, has the highest percentage of births to
women with less than 12 years of formal education (45.0 percent). Calhoun County,
located in the Central region, has the lowest percentage of births to women in this category
(9.3 percent). For the 1995-1999 period, the average percentage of births to women with
Less than 12 Years Education ranged from a high of 42.8 percent in Sevier County to a low
of 11.0 percent in Faulkner County. The five-year average among Public Health Regions
ranged from a high of 26.6 in the Southeast region to a low of 16.1 in the Central region.
The percent of births to women with less than 12 years of education also differs by race.
For the five-year period from 1995 through 1999, the average percent was 21.0 for Whites
and 27.9 for Blacks.
Nationally and in Arkansas alike more than three-fourths of women who gave birth in 1999
had at least 12 years of education (78 percent).
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