The state of South Dakota's child: 1994.

This annual report reviews natality and infant mortality data and also reviews teenage pregnancy in South Dakota. Data for 1993 again document a declining rate of birth for South Dakota with a 3% decline in the number of births since 1990 and an 18% decline since 1980. An identical number of infants (102) died in 1993 as 1992 with neonatal mortality slightly declining and post neonatal mortality slightly increasing for the state. Rates of perinatal causes of infant death are lower in South Dakota than they are nation-wide, but are higher for congenital anomalies, sudden infant death, pneumonia/influenza, and injuries/homicide. The 1993 birth rate per 1,000 teenagers 15-19 years of age in South Dakota was 44.5 compared to the 1992 rate of 60.7 for the United States. In South Dakota the rate of teen births for American Indian mothers is over four times higher than that for whites. The American Indian rate is also higher than that observed for Indians nation-wide. Alternately, the South Dakota white rate of birth to this age group is lower than the national rate. For all babies born to teenage mothers, 69% of the fathers are beyond their teen years. The need to examine teen pregnancy as a societal, and not just an adolescent problem, is emphasized.