Study: More U.S. teens giving birth

ATLANTA, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- For the first time since 1991, the number of U.S. teens giving birth rose significantly in 2006, the government said Wednesday in a report on birth statistics.

The report -- "Births: Preliminary Data for 2006," prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics -- said that between 2005 and 2006 the birth rate for teenagers ages 15 to 19 rose 3 percent, from 40.5 live births per 1,000 females in 2005 to 41.9 births per 1,000 in 2006.

This follows a 14-year downward trend in which the teen birth rate fell by 34 percent from its all-time peak of 61.8 births per 1,000 in 1991, the report said.

The largest increases were reported by non-Hispanic black teens, whose overall birth rate rose 5 percent in 2006, compared to 2 percent for Hispanic teens, 3 percent for non-Hispanic white teens and 4 percent for American Indian teens.

"It's way too early to know if this is the start of a new trend," Stephanie Ventura, head of the Reproductive Statistics Branch at CDC, said in a statement. "But given the long-term progress we've witnessed, this change is notable."