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 2024, the teen birth rate was 22 per 1,000 in Arkansas, making the state 50th in the nation for this indicator, including the 50 states and Washington, D.C. The rate has fallen 42% from 2015 when it was 38 per 1,000. Despite this improvement, the state's rate is still far higher than the national rate of 13 per 1,000. In 2024, the rate was higher among Black or African American (30), Asian (25) and Hispanic or Latino (24) teens than among White teens (19).

Within Arkansas, teen birth rates in 2024 ranged from less than 11 per 1,000 in Saline county to 64 per 1,000 in Clay County. Data from counties with a count of less than ten was suppressed.

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