The California Department of Public Health reported that California’s adolescent birth rate continues to decline.
A new state report indicates a record low of 15.7 births per 1,000 females between the ages of 15 and 19. Those numbers reflect an 11 percent decline between 2015 and 2016.
Lake County’s adolescent birth rate was 30.3 births per 1,000 females, the eighth-highest rate in the state.
While its rate remains high, Lake’s rate has been working its way down over the past two decades. It was reported at 31.1 from the last report issued last year, 34.7 in 2014 and 36.1 in 2013. In 2000 it had been reported at a rate of 52.
In this latest report, Sierra County had the highest rate, at 38.6, while San Francisco and Marin counties tied for the lowest adolescent birth rate at 7.4. Alpine County was not ranked.
Declining rates can be attributed to a number of factors, including improved access to reproductive health services and increased use of contraception; delayed first sexual intercourse; and public health prevention, education and support programs.
“While we have more work to do, the decline in adolescent births is a sign that our efforts in California are working,” said Dr. Karen Smith, CDPH director and state public health officer.
The adolescent birth rate decreased among all racial and ethnic groups between 2015 and 2016.
Despite these declining birth rates, racial disparities persist in adolescent childbearing in California. African-American and Hispanic adolescents are three to four times as likely to give birth as White youth.
Hispanic females account for 75 percent of adolescent births and have the highest adolescent birth rate at 23.7.
Rates also vary dramatically across counties: the county with the highest adolescent birth rate has a rate 5.2 times greater than the county with the lowest adolescent birth rate.
For more birth rate data, visit CDPH’s Adolescent Health Data and Statistics Web page.
California’s adolescent birth rate continues to decline
- Elizabeth Larson
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