Following a decade of dramatic decline, teen birth rates in Tulsa County inched up slightly in 2019, according to state data released this week.
The county birth rate for the year was 25.5 per 1,000 females age 15-19, up from 24.2 in 2018.
Females age 19 and younger accounted for 530 births in Tulsa County in 2019, compared to 500 the previous year.
The county rate comes in lower than the state’s 27.4, but still is well above the national rate of 16.6.
The marginal increase comes at the end of a decade, 2009-2019, that saw the rate for the county and state decline by over 50%.
“Even with the historic declines in recent years, Oklahoma remains among the states with the highest teen birth rate,” said Heather Duvall, executive director of Amplify Youth Health Collective, which promotes youth sex education.
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“That fact, along with the impact of COVID-19 on our youth, makes Tulsa’s continued commitment to improving the sexual health and well-being of young people so critical at this time,” she said.
The state Department of Health just finalized the 2019 numbers last week due to pandemic-related delays.
The state’s teen birth rate of 27.4 is basically holding steady, with 2018 coming in at 27.1. The national rate dropped from 17.4 to 16.6.
Duvall said the collective’s work, which involves a partnership between school officials and community members, was also made more challenging by the pandemic in 2020.
But efforts were successful, making sure Tulsa Public Schools students had access to sex education, she said.
A key focus of the year ahead, she added, will be assessing the impact of COVID-19 on young people’s health.
For more information, go to amplifytulsa.org. Free, downloadable copies of state and county fact sheets are available at healthyteensok.org/fast-facts.
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Pictures of the year by the Tulsa World photo staff
