Is Teen Pregnancy Really a Problem in Connecticut?

In some places, yes it is.

Certain communities in Connecticut consistently differ from the state average when it comes to teen births. A much larger proportion of resident births are to teenaged mothers when these communities are compared to the state as a whole. In fact, the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UConn Health has tracked patterns of teen births in the state for almost 20 years. Most recent analyses focus on the last five-year period between 2010 and 2014. These data show that in some Connecticut communities, the proportion of resident births to teen mothers is double and sometimes nearly triple that of the statewide average.

Town	Pop. Est.	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	Average
Hartford	125,017	15.3	13	12.7	10.1	9.7	12.8
Windham	25,213	14.7	14.8	10.6	8.5	7.1	12.2
New Britain	72,939	14.3	13.3	11.2	9.1	8.6	12.0
Waterbury	109,676	11.9	11.2	9.1	9.6	8.4	10.5
New Haven	130,660	11	9.4	10.3	8.1	7.5	9.7
Bridgeport	147,216	10.7	10.6	8.4	8.2	7.2	9.5
Meriden	60,456	9.4	7.5	9.7	9	7.3	8.9
Norwich	40,347	10.1	9.3	8.8	6.9	5.5	8.8
New London	27,545	11.1	9.6	7.7	7.1	5.5	8.9
East Hartford	51,199	7.6	7.3	8.2	6.8	6.1	7.5
Killingly	17,233	6.6	6.4	10.9	4.9	2.6	7.2
Torrington	35,611	7	6.8	7	6.3	4.7	6.8
West Haven	55,046		6.1	5.7	5.3	4.9	5.7
CONNECTICUT		6.1	5.5	5.2	4.5	4	5.1

Data for this analysis has been provided by the Connecticut Department of Public Health. Data from the Annual Registration Report Tables were used, courtesy of DPH. All data analysis was performed by the Family Planning Program, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, at UConn Health.