The total number of births in the United States remained flat in 2022 compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC reported 3,661,220 provisional births in the United States in 2022, which is about 3,000 fewer births than in 2021 in what the CDC calls a “nonsignificant decline. The total number of births in 2022 also remained below pre-pandemic levels after the birthrate slightly rebounded in 2021 after the initial year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of births dropped in 2020 from pre-pandemic levels in 2019, when the CDC recorded more than 3.7 million births. In 2020, that number dropped to 3,613,647 births before rebounding slightly in 2021 to 3,664,292 births, according to CDC data.
The CDC noted that the number of births from 2014 to 2020 was declining an average of two percent each year, which included a drop of four percent from 2019 to 2020. From 2020 to 2021, the birth rate rose about one percent, the CDC added.
While the total number of births in the U.S. remained flat from 2021 to 2022, birth rates among teenagers and young women hit a record low in 2022. The birth rate for teenagers ages 15 to 19 decreased by three percent to about 13.5 births per 1,000 women.
The birth rate for teenagers has dropped 78 percent since its peak in 1991, and has dropped 67 percent since 2007, the CDC said. The birth rate among young women ages 20 to 24 also dropped by two percent, which is a 43 percent decrease since 2007.
Births among those ages 30 to 34 accounted for more than 1.1 million births in 2022, but the number of births was “essentually unchanged” from the previous year, the CDC said. Women in the 35 to 39 and 40 to 44 age groups both saw rises in birth rates from the previous year.
The cesarean section birth rate also rose in 2022 and accounted for about 32 percent of births, which is the highest share it has been since 2014. The birth rate for preterm infants declined last year by about one percent this year to 10.38 percent. This comes after the rate rose four percent in 2021 to 10.49 percent, which was the highest rate of preterm births since 2007.
