Hispanic teen birth rates in Connecticut are 8.5 times higher than whites' and almost double that of African Americans for girls ages 15 to 19

Of the 2,626 teen births in 2009, almost half (1,277) were to Hispanics, according to data from the state Department of Public Health. Of the 35 teen births in 2009 in New London, 15 were to Hispanic girls, according to DPH data. At 13% of the state's population, the Hispanic community is growing at a dramatic rate - by almost 50% during the past decade - and experiencing increasing social and health problems. Almost a third of Hispanic children ages 17 and younger live in poverty. Almost 22% of all Hispanics have no health insurance. The state's Hispanics had the third highest unemployment rate in the nation in 2010, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank. Hispanics had a four-year high school graduation rate of 64% in 2010, according to state Department of Education data.