Oklahoma’s teen birth rate was ranked the second highest in the country in a new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Wednesday.
The report showed Oklahoma’s teen birth rate has decreased over the past 20 years, but at a slower pace than in every state except North Dakota and South Dakota.
The 2012 rate in Oklahoma was 47.3 births per 1,000 teenagers ages 15 to 19. Only New Mexico had a higher rate. The national rate was 29.4 per 1,000 teenagers ages 15 to 19.
Oklahoma had the highest birth rate in the nation for women ages 18 to 19 in 2012, with a rate of 83 births per 1,000 mothers in this age group. The national average was 51 births per 1,000 mothers of this age group.