Data link roundup (week of May 31, 2013)

The week's top data analysis links...
This week's theme: fertility rates matter.


16 AND NOT PREGNANT

New data from CDC shows that teen birth rates continue to fall, and are at the lowest levels on record. According to the report:

"Teen birth rates fell at least 15% for all but two states during 2007–2011—the most recent period of sustained decline; rates fell 30% or more in seven states."

Declines were sharpest among Hispanic/Latina teens.

Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A LITTLE ASSUMPTION MAKES

New global population growth projections by Stuart Basten, Wolfgang Lutz, and Sergei Scherbov show that a minor difference in fertility rate assumptions can make a major difference in long-range global population projections.

Like 30 billion people difference by the year 2200.

Let that sink in... then read their paper.

MASS MEDIA

In their paper (mentioned above) Basten, Lutz, and Scherbov briefly mention the factors that affect family size preference and fertility behavior. One factor they don't consider: television.

Rafael Pereira, of Urban Demographics, provides a roundup of the research on links between media exposure and reproductive behavior.


BEST CHART OF THE WEEK
... because rarely is my mind blown by the data contained in a single chart. (Really, you should read the Basten, Lutz, and Scherbov paper.)

Excerpted from Basten, Lutz, and Scherbov