HOUSTON
Texas had the nation’s highest birth rate among teenagers
ages 15 to 19 in 2004, according to a newly released study of children’s
health.
The Kids Count study, which is updated annually by the Annie
E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore,
said the Texas rate of 63 births
per 1,000 teens remained the same from 2003 to 2004.
Texas tied New
Mexico and Mississippi
for the top spot in 2003, but both of those states saw their rates decline in
2004. The average rate nationally was 41 births per 1,000 teens in 2004.
Texas mirrored
the rest of the nation in reporting a steep decline in teen births since at
least 1990.
“Texas
has been showing improvement, but other states are showing more
improvement,” said Frances Deviney, director of Texas Kids Count and a
senior research associate for the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin.
According to the study, Hispanic teens are more than 3 1/2
times as likely as Anglos to have a baby. Blacks are more than twice as likely
as their white peers to give birth.
