- The increase in U.S. births was less than 1% last year.
- The U.S. total fertility rate is 1.62, well below the replacement rate of 2.1.
- Births among teenagers to women in their mid-20s hit a record low.
The general fertility rate and the number of births in the U.S. increased a little bit in 2024, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.
But before the marching band tunes up to hail the end to falling fertility, the increase was less than a 1% bump to the general fertility rate, leaving the U.S. still well below replacement rate for total fertility.
The provisional data released today includes more than 99% of birth certificates in the U.S., documenting 3,622,673 births in 2024. Data wasn’t available for Guam or American Samoa yet. For every 1,000 females of childbearing age (generally considered ages 15-44), there were 54.6 births. That included a drop in the number of births among females 15-24 and an increase for women 25-44. For other age groups, the numbers didn’t change.
Birth data shows record lows in 2024 for teenagers 15-19 and for women 20-24.
There were more older moms; the share ages 40-44 saw a 2% increase. That continues a near-continuous trend since 1985.
The total fertility rate is well below replacement, at 1.62 per woman, compared to the 2.1 births per woman that would keep the population size stable. The total fertility rate, per the report, “estimates the number of births that a hypothetical group of women would have over their lifetimes, based on the age-specific birth rate in a given year.” So the rate is the sum of birth rates for the five-year age groups, multiplied by 5, per the report.
The CDC said that the total fertility rate “has generally been below replacement since 1971 and consistently below replacement since 2007.”
The report also noted that cesarean-section deliveries increased in 2024, to 32.4%, although the low-risk C-section delivery rate stayed flat at 26.6%.
And just over 1 in 10 of the babies born in 2024 were preterm.
Maternal age and race
The provisional number of births represents a 4% decrease for Black women, a 3% decrease for American Indian and Alaska native women and less than 1% drop for white women between 2023 and 2024.
The number of Hispanic births rose 4%, while births to Asian women rose 5%. Hispanics, by the way, can be any race. The number of births for Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders women was unchanged.
Broken out by age, the report said that the provisional birth rate for teens was 12.7 per 1,000 females age 15-19, a 3% decrease from 2023 and the lowest rate for that age group. It noted that the rate has declined by about 4% each year since 2007, marking a 69% drop from 2007’s numbers. It’s a 79% decrease from 1991, when births to teen moms last peaked. In 2024, 137,020 babies were born to teen moms.
Among the youngest of the teens, ages 15-17, there were 5.3 births per 1,000 females, while in the 18-19 age range, there were 23.9 births per 1,000.
Among women 20-24, there were 56.7 births per 1,000 women, which was a record low.
Among women ages 25-29, there were 91.4 births per 1,000. Meanwhile, for women ages 30-34, the rate was 95.4 births per 1,000 women. Among those 35-39, the rate was 55 births per 1,000, compared to 12.8 per 1,000 among women ages 40-44. And in the oldest group in the report, those 45-49, which includes births to women 50 and older, the number was 1.1 births per 1,000.
C-sections and preterm birth
The rate of births that involved C-section delivery had been dropping since 2009 until 2020, when it started to climb a little bit each year. Now, close to a third of babies are delivered by C-section, at 32.4%.
Cesarean delivery increased for Black (37.5%) and Hispanic (32.2%) women, but did not change for White (31.1%), American Indian and Alaska Native (29.9%) women. The increases for Asian women to 34.4% and Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders to 33.3% were not significant.
Over a quarter of babies were born by C-section (26.6%) who were considered low-risk because it was a first birth, full-term singleton who was properly positioned head first in the birth canal.
The preterm birth rate was 10.41%. Preterm births are those before 37 completed weeks gestation.
The early preterm rate, which is less than 34 completed weeks of gestation, was 2.72% of births. The late preterm rose slightly to 7.69% of births.