In 2023, the fertility rate in the United States plummeted to its lowest level in a century, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). There were about 3.6 million babies born in 2023, or 54.4 births for every 1,000 females ages 15 to 44, per the provisional data. That is just 1.6 children per woman in America, far below the replacement rate of 2.1.
This is a 3 percent decline from 2022. The previous low was in 2020, where America saw 56 births for every 1,000 in the reproductive age window.
“We’ve certainly had larger declines in the past. But decline fits the general pattern,” said leading author of the report, Dr. Brady Hamilton, a statistician at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
The U.S. fertility rate fell to just 1.6 children per woman in 2023. It’s the lowest figure in American history. America had fewer children born last year than in 1980, when we had 100 million fewer people.
Some of this is related to the continuing destruction of middle class… pic.twitter.com/2mqWssIBga
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 29, 2024
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The teen birth rate reached a record low of 13.2 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19, being 7 percent lower than what it was at its peak in 1991. However, the rate of decline was a bit slower than it has been for the past decade and a half, which is evidence that it could be bottoming out.
The average birthing age has increased, as older women have taken the lion’s share of births: the 2023 birth rate was highest among females 30-34 in age, with an estimated 95 births for every 1,000 women in this group.
“The highest rates have, over time, been shifting towards women in their 30s whereas before it used to be with women in their 20s,” Hamilton added. “One factor, of course, is the option to wait. We had a pandemic, or there’s an economic downturn, let’s say – women in their 20s can postpone having a birth until things improve and they feel more comfortable. For older women, the option of waiting is not as viable.”
While women 40 and older were the only category to see an increase, they are still at the lowest rate (13 births per 1,000 women).
Read the CDC full report here.
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics and business for VT and a regular guest on The Unusual Suspects. Follow Shane’s work here.
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