Birth rate plummets to lowest level in 21st century

Since 1979, there have not been as few births as there were in 2023. According to provisional data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 3,591,328 babies were born last year, falling 2% compared to 2022 (3,667,758).

These new figures, based on the number of birth certificates registered, represent a new low so far this century. In addition, the birth rate is trending down, after, in 2020 (the year of the pandemic), it had a rebound that stabilized until 2022 after several years of decline.

vsrr035 by Williams Perdomo

The only population group that registered an increase in birth rate was Hispanic women, with an increase of 1% between 2022 and 2023. On the other side of the scale, the birth rate among American Indian and Alaska Native women plummeted by 5%, by 4% among black women, by 3% among white women and by 2% among Asian women.

By age, the only three ranges in which the birth rate increased from 2022 to 2023 were women between 15 and 17 years old, between 40 and 44 years old and between 45 and 54 years old, although it should be noted that the increases are subtle. In all other age ranges, the number of births decreased, in some significantly.