US Birth Rate Falls to Record Low

The birth rate in the United States dropped to the lowest level ever recorded last year, led by a significant plunge in births to foreign-born women.

The overall birth rate in 2011 was 63.2 per 1,000 women of prime childbearing age, 15 to 44 years. That is the lowest rate since at least 1920, the earliest year for which there are reliable numbers, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.

The overall rate peaked most recently in the Baby Boom years, hitting 122.7 in 1957, nearly double today’s rate. The rate sagged but stabilized after that, until falling after 2007, the beginning of the most recent recession.

Overall births per 1,000 women declined 8 percent from 2007 to 2010. The rate for U.S.-born women dipped 6 percent during that period, and plummeted 15 percent among foreign-born women. The birth rate for Mexican immigrants dropped by 23 percent.

Total births in 2010 were 4 million, including about 3.1 million to U.S.-born women and 930,000 to immigrant women. Preliminary data for 2011 indicate there were 3.95 million total births last year.

“This report does not address the reasons that women had fewer births after 2007, but a previous Pew Research analysis concluded that the recent fertility decline is closely linked to economic distress,” Pew reported.

States with the largest economic declines were most likely to experience large fertility declines, Pew found.

The number of children born to the average woman in the United States this year is estimated to be 2.06, according to the CIA World Factbook. That is lower than France, but higher than almost all other European nations. The lowest rate is in Singapore, 0.78. The highest is in Niger, 7.16.

Other findings from the Pew report:

Immigrants arriving since 2005 and their descendants will account for 82 percent of U.S. population growth by 2050.
Teenage mothers accounted for 11 percent of births to U.S.-born women in 2010, compared to 5 percent for foreign-born women.
Among U.S.-born women, the birth rate per 1,000 white women ages 15 to 44 was 57.3 in 2010; for blacks, 61.3; for Hispanics, 65.4; for Asians, 32.
Among U.S.-born white women, 30 percent of births were to unmarried women in 2010. The figure among U.S.-born blacks was 78 percent; Hispanics, 58 percent; Asians, 31 percent.