U.S. Fertility Rate Hits Record Low for 2nd Straight Year; 40.7% of Babies Born to Unmarried Women

The data released last week by the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Births: Final Data for 2012", provided staggering data results about the US fertility rate, or the number of births per 1000 women aged 15-44. 

The fertility rate in the United States fell to a record low for the second year in a row. In 2012, the U.S. fertility rate was 63.0. That was down from 63.2 in 2011, the previous all-time low.  

The fertility rate in the US has been on the decline since 1960-in that year, 118 babies were born per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44. The U.S. fertility rate has dropped from year-to-year for each of the last five years. In 2007, it was 69.3. In 2008, it was 68.1. In 2009, it was 66.2. In 2010, it was 64.1. In 2011, it was 63.2. And, in 2012, it was 63.0.

"The 2012 general fertility rate (GFR) for the U.S. was 63.0 births per 1,000 women aged 15-44, down slightly (less than 1%) from the record low rate reported for the nation in 2011 (63.2)".

Also for the second year in a row, 40.7 percent of the babies born in the United States were born to unmarried mothers. Precisely, of the 3,952,841 babies who were born in the United States in 2012, said the CDC report, 1,609,619 were born to unmarried mothers.