New data from Maine’s public health office show that the rate of teen pregnancies in Maine is still on the decline, as it has been since 1996. Maine once had among the highest teen pregnancy rates in the nation but now ranks among the lowest.

In 2004, the most recent year for which state data are available, the overall rate of teen pregnancy in Maine was 34.8 per 1,000 girls age 15 to 19, compared with 45.5 per 1,000 in 1996.

County by county, the lowest rate in 2004 was in Franklin County at 24.3 pregnancies per 1,000, down from 37.4 in 1996. The highest rate, 48.5 pregnancies per 1,000, was in Knox County, down from 56.9 in 1996.

The report cautions that in counties with very small populations of teens, an increase or decrease of just a few pregnancies can produce a significant change in the rate.

Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said Friday that the statewide data are based on reports of positive pregnancy tests, live births and abortions among Maine teenage girls. Mills said that while the decrease shows that efforts to expand education and access to birth control services are successful in decreasing pregnancies, Maine teens still report lower-than-average use of condoms to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

“It is clear from the data that enhanced outreach and education efforts are needed in Maine to protect young people’s health,” she said.

Sandy Lovell, director of education at the Family Planning Association of Maine, said “teens are both postponing sex and using birth control, more often and more reliably. Maine’s comprehensive approach to teaching sexuality education has also taught us that young people respond sensibly when adults reach out and give them information and support to make responsible decisions.”

National teen pregnancy rankings are based on 2002 data. According to the Washington, D.C.-based National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, the rate of teen pregnancies in the United States is 75 per 1,000 girls. Maine ranks fifth-lowest in the nation, after North Dakota, Vermont, New Hampshire and Minnesota. Nevada has the highest state rate at 113. Washington, D.C., is higher still, at 128 pregnancies per 1,000 teenage girls.

The national rate peaked in 1990 and has dropped 36 percent since then, according to a spokesman from the organization. All states and all racial and ethnic groups have experienced a decrease, he said, attributable to both increased use of contraceptives and postponement of sexual activity.

Visit www.teenpregnancy.org for more information.