More older women becoming first-time moms amid U.S. fertility rate declines
As U.S. fertility rates continue to slide, a growing number of women older than 40 are having children, and a record low number of teenagers are giving birth.
Amid growing evidence of slowing fertility rates in the United States, a new report contained a pair of surprising details from two divergent age groups: A growing number of women older than 40 are having children and a record low number of teenagers are giving birth.
The report, released earlier this month by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), showed that the U.S. fertility rate — the average number of children born to a woman during her reproductive years — continued its decadeslong slide through 2023, with American women having an average of 1.62 children, compared to 1.66 in 2021 and 2022.
Overall, the rate has declined 14% since 1990, driven largely by younger women under the age of 30 who are having fewer children.
For the first time in 2023, there were more births among women 40 and older than there were to teenage girls, a trend which aligns with both long-sought public health goals of decreasing teen births, while reflecting medical advancements which have allowed older women to have healthy pregnancies.
“There’s a flip in the age distribution,” said Elizabeth Wildsmith, a family demographer and sociologist at Child Trends, a nonpartisan research group.
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