Social Policy

Hispanics Surpass Blacks In Births To Teens

The percentage of Hispanic teenage girls who give birth has outdistanced that of African-American teenagers for the first time, according to a new study from the National Center for Health Statistics (see figure).

  • In 1995, nearly 11 percent of Hispanic women age 15 to 19 gave birth, compared with about 10 percent of black teenagers and 4 percent of non-Hispanic white teens.

  • While the rates for black and white teens have declined in recent years, the figures for Hispanics have continued to rise.

  • Hispanics also have higher out-of-wedlock birthrates than African-Americans and have the lowest rates of high school and college graduation.

  • Hispanics born in this country were more likely than Hispanics who moved here to give birth as teenagers, to have babies outside of marriage and to have babies with low birth weights.

Moreover, the 1995 poverty rate among Hispanics was greater than the figure for blacks for the first time.

Teenage births among Mexican-Americans rose to 12 percent in 1995 -- from 9 percent in 1989.

Because whites still outnumber blacks and Hispanics in the population, the volume of births to white teens far outpaces those to the two other groups -- with more than 230,000 births to non-Hispanic white teens in 1995, compared to about 131,000 for blacks and 118,000 for Hispanics.

Source: Barbara Vobejda and Pamela Constable, "Hispanic Teens' Birthrate Ranks 1st of Ethnic Groups," Washington Post, February 13, 1998.


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