U.S. Birthrate Increases for the First Time in Seven Years

Women are having more babies in the United States, a new study found.

According to the report released Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics, the birth rate among women ages 15 to 44 has increased by one percent from 2013 to 2014. This is the very first time since 2007 that the birth rate has increased. The report also found that in 2014, there were a total of 3.98 million births, the most since 2010.

"The decline of the birthrate over the past few years can be attributed to the recession," Carl Haub, a senior demographer for the Population Reference Bureau, told USA TODAY. "The recession is ending - we think it's ending - for some people, so we might attribute a rise in the birthrate"

Haub stated that he was not surprised by the increase since the economy has been better recently. The Department of Labor found that in April 2015, there was an increase of 223,000 jobs. The Department of Commerce reported last week that consumer spending on retail items increased by 1.2 percent.

Haub also expects the birth rate to continue to increase, even if the increase is very little.

Laura Lindberg, principal research scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, added, "I think as people feel their paycheck is more stable, it feels like a safe environment to have a child in."

Despite the speculation that women are feeling more secure to have babies, study researcher Brady Hamilton noted that they did not analyze the causes of the increased birth rate. Hamilton stated that a "cacophony of factors" could be at play.

In the report, the researchers found several other birthrate statistics. The researchers reported that the teen birthrate hit a low at 24.2 births per 1,000 for young women aged 15 to 19. In 2013, the teen birthrate was 26.2 births per 1,000 women. The birth rate for Asians increased by six percent. The rate for whites, blacks and Hispanics all increased by one percent each. The percentage of unmarried women who gave birth decreased by one percent. The birthrate in women who were in their 30s and 40s continued to rise.

"We were somewhat anticipating at some point a reversal or a secession of the downward trend. But still, nonetheless, it was a bit of a surprise for us," Hamilton said reported by NPR.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics published the data.