US Birth Rate Hits All Time Low

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

The number of births in America in 2024 increased from 2023, but the fertility rate declined, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on July 24.

Births rose 1 percent from 2023 to 2024, the CDC said in a brief. The number of births in 2024 was 3.62 million.

That’s down from 3.9 million in 2010 and 16 percent lower than the peak of 4.3 million in 2007. It’s about the same as most recent years, although just 3.59 million were logged in 2023.

The fertility rate among females aged 15 to 44, on the other hand, declined by 1 percent in 2024 to 53.8 births per 1,000.

That’s down from 64.7 births per 1,000 females in that age group in 2010 and 118 per 1,000 females in the population in 1960.

The new fertility rate is the lowest on record, sinking from the previous low of 54.5 births per 1,000 females aged 15 to 44 in 2023.

It equals less than 1.6 children per female of childbearing age. Worldwide, the fertility rate is 2.2 children per female, according to the World Bank.

The birth and fertility data are drawn in part from birth certificates and U.S. Census data.

President Donald Trump, his administration, and members of Congress have said the falling fertility rate is a cause for concern.

A recent bill approved by Congress and signed by the president includes $1,000 accounts for newborns.

Trump in February also signed an order aimed at making in vitro fertilization, a method of conception, more affordable.

Birth rates are generally declining for women in most age groups—and that doesn’t seem likely to change in the near future, said Karen Guzzo, director of the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina.

People are marrying later and are also worried about their ability to have the money, health insurance, and other resources needed to raise children in a stable environment, said Guzzo, who described measures such as the newborn accounts as largely symbolic.

Women in the United States have been giving birth on average at older ages. In 2024, the birth rate for females aged 15 to 34 declined. The rate was the same among women aged 35 to 39, and went up for women aged 40 to 44, according to the CDC.

That was a change from provisional data released earlier in the year that had indicated birth rate increases for women in their late 20s and 30s.

CDC officials said it was due to recalculations stemming from a change in the Census population estimates used to compute the birth rate.