Americans are having fewer kids than ever—well, at least since 1979.
In 2020, with the emergence of COVID-19, birth rates in the U.S. fell 4% (about 3.6 million births) which marked the sixth consecutive annual decline and the lowest rate since 1979—but in 2023, that rate dropped even further.
Provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data published on Thursday showed that the rate of women in the United States (of child-bearing age) having children was the lowest in 2023 since the agency began tracking nationwide birthrates.
In 2023, the total number of births declined to 3.59 million births in the U.S., which is the lowest number of births recorded since 1979, when there were approximately 3.4 million births. The CDC notes that the total number of births decreased by 2% from 2022.
The general fertility rate was 54.4 births per 1,000 for women aged 15-44, which is well below the replacement level. The center describes this as the “level at which a given generation can exactly replace itself,” which is important for several reasons including the upkeep and creation of infrastructure, social security programs, and much more.
Lorna Thorpe, the director of epidemiology at the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone, explained, “The recent decline in birth rates reflects both a longer-term downward trend in birth rates that was apparent prior to the pandemic and pandemic-related reduction.”
The data concludes that many women have put off having children in their early 20s, and instead have opted to wait until their 30s to pursue motherhood. In fact, the birth rate is on par with the marriage rate, which has declined significantly in recent years.
According to the CDC, from 2017 to 2018, marriage rates in the U.S. dropped to 6%, from 6.9 per 1,000 individuals to 6.5, which the center states is the lowest rate since 1900.
Countries in Europe have experienced similar declines, as the culture notably shifts toward a more progressive and individualistic view of the nuclear family.
