Illuminating America: White Teen Birth Rate Doesn’t Beat Chlamydia, but is Twice as High in Republican Counties

The headline: In the latest from Charted Territory’s “Illuminating America” series, the county-level white teen birth rate explains 46% of the2016 election result and the rate is over twice as high in Republican counties.

 The details: The white teen birth rate enters the Illuminating America chart in fifth place, explaining 45% of the 2016 election result. The rate is 2.14 times higher in Republican counties (23.8 births per1,000 female population ages 15-19) compared with Democrat counties (11.1). Teen birth rates are higher in Republican counties for black (38.5 vs. 32.9), Hispanic(42.6 vs. 39.5), and all races (28.9 vs. 23.3), all statistically significant at the 99.7% level and higher (only white teen births explain more than 19% of the election result though).

The chart:

• X-axis: county-level white teen birth rate (number of births per 1,000 female population ages 15-19).
• Y-axis: county-level 2016Trump vote (percent).
• Bubble size: proportional to total county population.
• Bubble color: state-level election result (red = Trump state, blue = Clinton state).

The data: Health data is sourced from the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program¹.Election data was collected and compiled by Charted Territory.

1. http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/explore-health-rankings