The real reasons Americans aren’t having babies anymore… as fertility rate plunges again

America’s fertility rate has fallen once again to a new record low, official data shows — marking the third consecutive year it has plummeted.

Provisional figures from the CDC revealed the general fertility rate dropped to 53.1 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 in 2025, down from 53.8 the year before.

It was a one percent fall in 12 months, and marked a 23 percent drop from 2007, the most recent peak, when the fertility rate was 69.3.

Last year saw about 3.6 million births, a one percent drop from 2024 and down 16 percent from the 4.3 million births registered in 2007.

Experts told Daily Mail that the new data told a ‘striking story’, and showed that more women were waiting longer to start having families.

America’s fertility rate has been in decline since 2007. Experts initially blamed the Great Recession of 2008, saying economic uncertainty led many to put off having children.

But even as the economy initially rebounded, the decline continued.

Experts say continued economic and financial instability, as well as an increased focus on schooling and career have lead people to delay having children, have fewer children or not have children at all.

In the CDC’s release, the provisional data suggested that the fertility rate’s decline was driven by a drop in the number of teenage pregnancies. It also showed that more women are having children later.

Among those aged 15 to 19 years, births dropped seven percent in 2025 to 11.7 per 1,000 women in the age group. Among those aged 18 to 19 years, they fell 11 percent to 21.9.

Among women aged 20 to 24, births dipped six percent to 52.5. 

Women aged 25 to 29 experienced the fourth-largest drop, four percent, to 85.6 births.

But for those aged 30 to 34 years, who had the highest fertility rate overall, births ticked up three percent to 96.2 births per 1,000 women in that age group. 

Among 35- to 39-year-olds, they rose two percent to 55.1.

There was also a record-high fertility rate among women aged 40 to 44 – 12.8 births per 1,000 women, up one percent from 2024.

For 45- to 49-year-olds, births remained at their record high for the age group of 1.1.

Dr Elizabeth Cherot, the chief medical officer at Unified Women’s Healthcare, told Daily Mail: ‘This week’s CDC data tells a striking story.

‘There were roughly 710,000 fewer babies born in the US last year compared with the peak in 2007, a decline in the general fertility rate in less than two decades. That’s a fundamental shift in how Americans are thinking about family.’

She added: ‘The broader fertility decline is complex.

‘Women aren’t having fewer children in a vacuum. They’re making deeply personal decisions shaped by economic pressures, career considerations and questions about the kind of support they’ll have if they do choose to start a family.’

The CDC has yet to release its total fertility rate estimate for 2025, or the number of children per woman.

For a population to remain stable, this should be at 2.1 children per woman. 

In 2024, it was 1.6 children per woman. It has been below the replacement threshold since 2007.

Polling in recent years has indicated that the proportion of adults who say they never want to have children has grown, while many couples plan to have fewer children than in previous generations.

A Pew Research Center study published last year found that, on average, men and women aged 20 to 39 years planned to have 1.8 children. In 2012, the figure was 2.3.

Overall, about three-quarters of men and women said that they planned to have at least one child.

That was down from about 90 percent in 2012. 

Political leaders are warning of dire consequences if the population decline continues. 

The White House proposed offering a $5,000 ‘baby bonus’ to every US mother after she gives birth and President Donald Trump has worked to make the fertility treatment invitro fertilization more affordable to make it accessible to people who want to have children. 

Elon Musk – who has 14 children with four different women – called the decline ‘the biggest threat to civilization’ and has warned it ‘will lead to mass extinction of entire nations.’

Vice President JD Vance has also claimed that ‘our people aren’t having enough children to replace themselves.

‘That should bother us.’