Here’s round-up of some good-news statistics from the week:
Teen pregnancy: Teenagers are not having nearly as many babies — the rate of teen births is down 10 percent from 2012 and is now lower than any year on record, all the way back through the 1950s! Teen abortions are also down. So what accounts for the low teen pregnancy and birth rate? Vox has six reasons here.
Go, teens! Teens are doing better on lots of fronts, according to another Vox article drawn from a big Centers for Disease Control report. Alcohol, cigarette and cocaine use are all down. Marijuana use is up, by a tiny amount. More young people are exercising — 29.7 percent of 18-24 year olds met federal exercise guidelines in 2012, compared to just 18.9 percent in 1998.
Back to work: First-time applications for unemployment compensation fell to 300,000 last week, nearly as low as the three-week-ago figure, which marked a seven-year low. The total number of people receiving unemployment benefits is also the lowest since November 2007. (Star Tribune)
More booksellers! AP reports:
“The American Booksellers Association, the independents’ trade group, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that core membership has increased to 1,664, up from 1,632 last year and more than 200 higher since 2009.”
More young people! You know that we graying baby boomers need them — working, exercising and paying into social security. The New York Times reported this week that, “There are now more young adults than there are baby boomers.”
Mary Turck
News Day 