Our Bureau of Public Health Statistics just released a new 10-year trend report on Teen Pregnancy in Arizona, 1999-2009.  Some of the key findings are

  • Teen pregnancy rates dropped 34% in AZ from 1999 to 2009.
  • There were a total of 12,537 pregnancies to teens younger than 19 in 2009, which was the fewest number reported during this ten year period.
  • The decline in rates was especially steep for younger teens (15 – 17 year olds).  Rates among these younger teens dropped by nearly 45% in the past decade (from 51.5 per 1,000 in 1999 to 28.5 in 2009).
  • From 2007 to 2009, the number of teen pregnancies declined steeply for Asians (-23%), and Latinas (-19%).
  • Among Hispanic females 19 years old or younger the number of births declined by an unprecedented 18.5%, and the number of pregnancies declined by 19%. There is a reason to believe that there were fewer births (and pregnancies) among Hispanics of all ages, as well as teenagers, because there were fewer Hispanic or Latino residents in Arizona in 2009 than there were in 2007.