Updated Pregnancy Estimates from CDC Now Available

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For Release: June 15, 2004

Contact: NCHS/CDC Public Affairs, (301) 458-4800

E-mail: paoquery@cdc.gov

Estimated Pregnancy Rates for the United States, 1990-2000: An Update. NVSR Volume 52, Number 23. 10 pp. (PHS) 2004-1120 [PDF – 710 KB]

A new report, “Estimated Pregnancy Rates for the United States, 1990-2000: An Update,” from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, provides detailed pregnancy rates by age, race, and Hispanic origin, and by marital status, race, and Hispanic origin, that extend a national series that began in 1976.

Summary of the findings:

  • An estimated 6,401,000 pregnancies ended in 2000, about 6 percent fewer than the 1990 peak (6,778,000) for the period 1976-2000.
  • The 2000 total included 4.06 million live births, 1.31 million induced abortions, and 1.03 million fetal losses.
  • The estimated pregnancy rate for U.S. women was 104.0 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15-44 years, 10 percent below the 1990 peak (115.6 per 1,000).
  • The pregnancy rate for teenagers fell 27 percent overall during 1990-2000, to 84.5 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15-19 years. This rate was the lowest ever reported since 1976. The overall decline is reflected in significant reductions in birth and abortion rates.
  • Pregnancy rates fell more for 15-17-year-old teenagers (33 percent) than for 18-19 year olds (20 percent).
  • Rates declined about one-third each for white and black non-Hispanic teenagers and by 15 percent for Hispanic teenagers.
  • During the 1990-2000 decade, pregnancy rates declined about 8 percent for married women and 12 percent for unmarried women. The birth rate for married women declined about 6 percent, while the abortion rate fell one-fourth. The birth rate for unmarried women changed little, but the abortion rate also declined about one-fourth.

Findings from Cycle 6 of the National Survey of Family Growth (available later in 2004) are expected to help explain the trends and variations in pregnancy rates and the factors that account for them.

The new report, “Estimated Pregnancy Rates for the United States, 1990-2000: An Update,” is based on birth data from the National Vital Statistics System, fetal loss estimates from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth, and abortion estimates from CDC’s Abortion Surveillance System adjusted to national totals estimated by The Alan Guttmacher Institute.