US Birth Rate Increases for First Time in Seven Years
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics released provisional data on Tuesday that the number of births in the U.S. in 2021 was up 1%, the first increase since 2014.
According to the data, the birth rate was dropping on average about 2% a year since 2014, and from 2019 to 2020 declined twice as much.
In 2021, nearly 3.7 million babies were born, an increase of about 46,000 babies from the prior year.
Other findings show that cesarean sections increased to 32.1% in 2021 from 31.8% in 2020, which is the second increase in a row after the rate declined from 2009.
Teen birth rates remained low with about 14 births for every 1,000 females aged 15-19, but increased for ages 25 and up with more than half of births among mothers who were 30 or older.
When it comes to breaking down the birth rates by race, for Black, Asian and Native American women rates declined. For White and Hispanic women the rates increased.
Unfortunately, the rate of preterm births also increased, up 4% in 2021 from 2020, which is the highest reported birth rate for preterm births since 2007.
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