The number of births in the United States fell to 3.596 million in 2023, marking the lowest level in over four decades and continuing a long-term trend towards smaller American families, as per Bloomberg.
This represents a 2% decline from 2022, according to a report released Tuesday by the US National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), a unit of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The reprt confirms preliminary data published last year and is based on birth certificate information.
The decline in birth rates is a global phenomenon, with political instability and broader uncertainties cited as potential contributing factors. The European Union recently reported a 5% drop in births in 2023, totaling 3.6 million, the steepest decline in over sixty years. Similarly, China recorded 9.5 million births last year, the second-lowest number since 1949.
According to Sarah Hayford, director of the Institute for Population Research at Ohio State University, high healthcare costs and broader political, economic, and climate uncertainties may be prompting Americans to delay parenthood. “When people are worried about the future, they often put off having children,” Hayford explained.
The NCHS report indicated that birth rates for US women of childbearing age either declined or remained unchanged across various age groups in 2023, consistent with recent trends. The report attributes significant drops among women aged 15 to 24 to prioritizing education. The average age for first-time mothers reached a record high of 27.5 years.
Teen birth rates also decreased by 4% from 2022 and have plummeted by 68% since 2007, the researchers found.
The total fertility rate stood at 1.6 births per woman, a rate that has generally declined by 2% annually since 2008. This fertility rate is below replacement level, suggesting that the US will need to rely on immigration to maintain its current population size.
