US Birthrate Sinks: Hits Record Low After Dropping Six Years

With younger women continuing to defer child births, United States fertility rate dipped to an all time low in 2013 when just about 62 children were born for every thousand women.

Birth rate figures posted by Center for Disease Control (CDC) show 3.93 million babies were born last year, which is 9 % less than 2007, when 4.32 million babies were born, Fox News reported. The overall dip was due to the large decrease in fertility rates in women aged 30 and under, considered most productive in terms of fertility and child bearing abilities.

According to TIME, women were waiting to have children until they turned 30 or after, which caused the decline. Lower fertility rates mean a small future workforce, which, when combed with longer life spans could tip the population balance from young to old, a situation that does not auger well for the economy. Women aged 25-29 registered a birth rate of 105.5 per 1,000 births, one percent lower than 2012 figures.

"Birth rates dropped to record lows in 2013 among women under age 30 and rose for most age groups 30 and over," CDC noted while adding that birth rate for women aged 30 and above registered a 50-year high last year.

Consequently, women aged between 30 and 34 had a birth rate of 98 per thousand in 2013, up by one percent over 2012. For women between 35 and 39, the birth rate increased by 2 % to 49.3 per thousand births.

While birth rate in the age category 40-44 remained unchanged, women aged between 45 and 49 gave birth to 0.1 % more babies.

Notwithstanding the concern decline in general fertility has caused, CDC pointed out that birth rate among teenagers fell significantly by 10 %. Preterm birth and caesarean delivery rates also declined while twin birth rate which was stable over the past few years, increased in 2013.