The U.S. birth rate hit an all-time low in 2023, according to preliminary data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The total number of births last year was 3.59 million, down 2% from 2022, “the lowest level since 1979, when about 3.4 million babies were born in the United States.” time report. Brady Hamilton, a demographer at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and lead author of the report, told the magazine that the birth rate among U.S. women of childbearing age is the lowest it has been since the CDC began tracking it. said.
The decline would ultimately revert to a two-decade trend of Americans having fewer children after a brief increase during the coronavirus pandemic.
The birth rate for women aged 15 to 44 was 54.4 per 1,000, down from a previous low of 56 per 1,000 in 2020 and down 3% from 2022.
“The data, which is based on more than 99 percent of birth certificates issued that year, is broadly consistent with the typical annual decline of approximately 1 to 2 percent over the past decade, with the steady decline beginning in 2016. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent pandemic “baby bump” that defied modest expectations were punctuated only by a 4 percent plunge. forbes report.
Researchers found that the number of teenage births also hit an all-time low in 2023, at 13.2 births per 1,000 teenagers aged 15 to 19. This decrease is 3 percent from 2022, which is smaller than the average decrease of 7 percent from 2007 to 2022.
The data revealed that Caesarean section deliveries accounted for almost a third of all births, at 32.4%, and have increased for the fourth consecutive year. The rate of births by caesarean section is the highest since 2012.
The researchers said the U.S. birth rate in 2023 will still be below the replacement rate, which is “the level at which one generation is just replaced.” Demographers write that the current number of births needed to replace the population is 2,100 births per 1,000 women.
“This rate has generally been below the replacement rate since 1971 and has been consistently below the replacement rate since 2007,” the report states.
