A report from the CDC and the National Center for Health Statistics says teen birthrates are dropping in the US in all but two states.
Arkansas is among the states where the rate is dropping, but it has one of the highest rates.
Arkansas had a 16 percent decline in overall teen births between 2007 and 2011.
Brady Hamilton, a statistician with the National Center for Health Statistics, says the study can help shape public policy regarding teen pregnancy.
“The importance of this is that teens are – teen births are – the focus of public policies and programs designed to limit the number of births for those particular age groups, and this report for example, allows people to sort of see where there have been large declines and where rates remain high and for what particular groups,” Hamilton said.
The study looked at teen pregnancy in the context of various races and ethnic groups between 2007 and 2011.
