Pregnancy can derail a young woman's life, preventing her from furthering her education or growing up to be self-sufficient. Babies born to teen mothers are at higher risk of having a low birth weight and of infant mortality compared to babies born to older mothers. They are also at risk of lower cognitive development, poor educational outcomes and living in poverty.

In 2019, the teen birth rate was 30 per 1,000 in Arkansas, making the state 51st in the nation for this indicator, including the 50 states and Washington, D.C. The rate has fallen 55% since 2000; the vast majority of the decline occurred since 2009. Despite this improvement, the state's rate is still far higher than the national rate of 17 per 1,000. In 2019, the rate was higher among Black (43) and Hispanic (32) teens than among white teens (27). However, rates declined the most among Hispanic and Native American teens, falling 68% and 83% since 2000, respectively.

Within Arkansas, teen birth rates in 2019 ranged from less than 18 per 1,000 in, Dallas, Faulkner, Pope, and Columbia counties to more than 70 per 1,000 in Monroe, Phillips, St. Francis and Lafayette counties. Since 2000, Dallas County (85%), Desha County (77%), and Boone County (74%) have experienced the steeped drops in teen birth rates.

Rates do not represent a unique count of births as a female may have more than one pregnancy within a given year.