The number of U.S. births and the fertility rate of American women declined from 2024 to 2025, including for teens.
Births for women 35 and older, on the other hand, increased.
New provisional data released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that American women and girls gave birth to 3,606,400 babies in 2025, a 1% decrease from 2024’s 3,628,934 births.
The general fertility rate, defined as the number of births per 1,000 women and girls ages 15-44, also dropped 1% from 53.8 births per 1,000 in 2024 to 53.1 last year.
The fertility rate has been declining in the U.S. since 2007, the CDC said.
As part of the drop in fertility for the U.S. population as a whole, the fertility rate for teenagers has fallen. The rate peaked in 1991, when there were 61.8 births per 1,000 girls and women ages 15-19.
Among teenage juveniles ages 15-17, there were 29,939 births in 2025, down from 34,465 in 2024, and a rate of 4.7 births per 1,000, down 11% from 2024’s 5.3, the CDC said.
Among teenage adults ages 18-19, there were 95,994 births in 2025 compared with 102,808 in 2024, and the rate dropped 7% year over year from 23.6 births per 1,000 in 2024 to 21.9 in 2025.
On the older end of the spectrum, the number of births increased year over year. Women ages 35-39 gave birth to 640,234 babies last year, with a birth rate of 55.1 per 1,000, up from 622,517 and a rate of 54.3 per 1,000 in 2024, the CDC said.
Women ages 40-44 saw 142,927 births in 2025, with a rate of 12.8 per 1,000, up from 141,515 and 12.7 in 2024.
Women ages 45 and older had 11,319 births in 2025 as opposed to 10,876 in 2024, though the birth rate stayed the same at 1.1 per 1,000.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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