A recent CNN blog post  discussed areport which showed births to adolescents declined for the second consecutive year.  The report was a compilation of statistics from numerous organizations, in which there was a decline in the U.S. The report stated a drop in the adolescent birth rate, from 21.7 per 1,000 girls ages 15-17 (2008) to 20.1 per 1,000 (2009, preliminary data).

There was also other good news, the report also noted that adolescent injury deaths have also decline. This drop in injury-related deaths among teens ages 15-19 from 44 per 100,000 (2008, preliminary data) to 39 per 100,000 (2009, preliminary data). The number also includes teenage driving deaths. These numbers might be an indication that some legislation has had an impact on teen driving, but the researchers also indicated that there could be multiple factors at play.

The report is title America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2011 all though the full report is not yet available, previous reports are. The group gathers statistics from asthma cases in children to their test scores in math.  The report is a collection of 22 federal agencies.

Now for the bad news. The report also found a rise in the proportion of eighth graders who reported using illicit drugs in the past 30 days, from 9 percent (2009) to 10 percent (2010). The report found that more children were likely to live in poverty and fewer children were likely to live with one parent working year round, full time.

Surely this information bears further scrutiny and helps monitor the well being of America's youth.
 
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