US fertility rates drop to record low in 2025 as births fall

The U.S. fertility rate hit a record low last year, extending a nearly two-decade decline, ​provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ‌showed on Thursday.

The decline also reflects global trends, as fewer women choose to have childrenagainst a changing social backdrop. In the U.S., the general fertility rate has fallen nearly ​23% since 2007, according to the agency’s data.

Shifting priorities among younger ​women, including “greater and more demanding job market opportunities, expanded leisure ⁠options, increased intensity of parenting… make the option to have children ​less desirable,” said Phillip Levine, an economics professor at Wellesley College.

The number ​of babies born in the U.S. in 2025 declined 1% from a year earlier to roughly 3.6 million, while the general fertility rate – the number of births per 1,000 women ​aged 15 to 44 – also slipped 1% to 53.1, the data ​showed. After decades of decline, U.S. fertility rates are now at historic lows.

While fertility rates among women in their 30s and 40s have increased over the ‌past ⁠decade, those gains have remained too modest to offset sustained declines among women under 30.

Last year, the fertility rate among women aged 25 to 29 fell about 4.4%, while the rate for women aged 30 to ​34 rose about 2.7% ​from 2024, ⁠the data showed. Fertility rates among teenagers also declined sharply, with the rate for those aged 18 to 19 ​falling 7% and the rate for younger teens aged ​15 to ⁠17 dropping 11%, both reaching record lows.

The provisional data is based on 99.95% of all birth records received and processed last year by the National ⁠Center ​for Health Statistics, part of the CDC, ​as of February 3, 2026.

Source:  Reuters