Birth rates in the United States have been slowly withering or plateauing since 2015, and teen fertility and birth rates continue to decline at a much greater rate. (Photo: Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent)
New data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that across the United States, fertility and birth rates continue to decline, while the number of cesarean sections has increased and the rate of premature births has remained unchanged.
The provisional number of births in 2025 fell by 1% from the previous year to approximately 3.6 million births, and the overall fertility rate also fell by 1% for women aged 15 to 44. The decline represented a difference of 22,534 births. The national fertility rate is calculated as the total number of live births per 1,000 women of reproductive age.
Conservatives want to enhance the birth rate. These mothers are afraid to have more children.
According to the CDC, birth rates have continued to decline slowly or have plateaued since 2015, and teen fertility and birth rates continue to decline at a much greater rate. The teen fertility rate has fallen 72% since 2007, which is down another 7% last year for teens aged 15 to 19.
Republicans, including Vice President J.D. Vance, focused on the falling birth rate as an issue that needed to be addressed in national and state policy. Vance campaigned on raising taxes on people without children and expanding the child tax credit to enhance the birth rate.
However, many sociologists have said that low birth rates are a sign of an advanced culture that provides people with more opportunities to pursue career and life goals, and that some of the negative factors contributing to withering rates are related to affordability and insecurity. Women interview for States Newsroom in 2025 she stated that day care costs, state policies regarding abortion and in vitro fertilization, and general political instability led them to decide not to have more children or not at all.
The CDC also monitors maternal and child health and found that the rate of cesarean section delivery is the highest since 2013 and continues to enhance almost every year since 2020. Among first-time mothers, the rate increased from 26.6% in 2024 to 26.9% in 2025, making it the highest rate since 2012.
The data showed that the preterm birth rate remained largely unchanged or slightly lower, as it has been since 2021.
Stateline reporter Kelcie Moseley-Morris can be reached at: kmoseley@stateline.org.
This story was originally produced by state linewhich is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network that includes the Ohio Capital Journal and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
