South Carolina tops Georgia, North Carolina

In teenage pregnancy, that is.

Yes, in a national survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, South Carolina now ranks 11th in the nation in teenage pregnancy. While we're not the highest representative from the South -- Mississippi takes the top spot, thus diverting attention from us again -- we still beat our neighbors to the north and west resoundingly.

It's spelled out in today's edition of the New York Times.

Nearly every state saw a decline in teen births from 2007 to 2010, with the biggest drop in Arizona at 29 percent. Rates stayed about the same in three states: Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously reported that U.S. births by mothers of all ages had dropped in 2010 for the third straight year. Experts think the economy is a factor.

The rate for teenage moms reached its lowest point since record-keeping began in 1940. The rate fell 9 percent to about 34 per 1,000 girls ages 15 through 19. The decline was seen among all racial and ethnic groups.

The CDC report released Tuesday focused on state figures. The authors say the teen declines have been attributed to pregnancy prevention efforts. They note that a recent government survey showed more use of contraception by teens.

Even as it leads the nation with 55 teen births per 1,000 girls, Mississippi's rate has been falling like everywhere else. It dropped 21 percent over three years. New Hampshire has the lowest teen birth rate at just under 16.

Since 1991, the overall teen rate has dropped by 44 percent. Without that decline, the authors calculated, there would have been 3.4 million more babies born to girls by 2010.

State list with the rate per 1,000 teenage girls:

1. Mississippi 55

2. New Mexico 52.9

3. Arkansas 52.5

4. Texas 52.2

5. Oklahoma 50.4

6. Louisiana 47.7

7. Kentucky 46.2

8. West Virginia 44.8

9. Alabama 43.6

10. Tennessee 43.2

11. South Carolina 42.5

12. Arizona 42.4

13. Georgia 41.4

14. Kansas 39.2

15. Wyoming 39

16. Nevada 38.6

17. Alaska 38.3

17. North Carolina 38.3

19. Indiana 37.3

20. Missouri 37.1

As we learned yesterday in a study from Auburn University, teenage pregnancy is directly correlated with low educational attainment and poverty. So South Carolina has, depending on one's perspective, a lot of work to do, or a lot to be proud of, as our present budget priorities keep us locked in a trifecta of shame: Inadequate support for public education, inadequate attention to poverty and inadequate prevention of teenage pregnancy.

But our governor is selling books, so it's a great day in South Carolina.

Longer life span linked to more education

Yet one more reason to encourage your children to stay in school, and to go to college, and to get advanced degrees.

A new study from the University of Wisconsin shows that the more educated one is, the longer one may live.

Reports Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times,

Americans are living longer, but the gains in life span are accruing disproportionately among the better educated, according to a new report by researchers from the University of Wisconsin.

Researchers have long known of the correlation between education and length of life, but the report provides a detailed picture of what that link looks like across the country’s more than 3,000 counties.

The study, which was financed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, uses government data to rank each American county by health indicators like obesity, smoking, drinking, physical inactivity and premature death. It even considers factors like the density of fast-food restaurants in a county.

Its findings show that the link between college education and longevity has grown stronger over time. Premature death rates differed sharply across counties, and a lack of college education accounted for about 35 percent of that variation from 2006 to 2008, the most recent years available, said Bridget Booske Catlin, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, who directed the study. That was up from 30 percent over an equivalent period seven years earlier.

The study defines premature deaths as those that occur before age 75 and are often preventable.

The findings offered fresh evidence that Americans’ fortunes are diverging by education level. Education has emerged as an important predictor of good health and future earnings, but its unequal distribution among towns and cities has led to an increasingly uneven geography of well-being in the country.

According to the findings, when average post-secondary education levels increased by one year, there was a 16 percent decline in years of life lost before age 75, Ms. Catlin said.