The fertility rate in the United States fell to the lowest level ever recorded, with approximately 3,606,400 newborns in 2025, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The general fertility rate declined 23% from 2007 to 2025, a period during which roughly 710,000 fewer children were born annually compared with the nation's peak.

In 2007, there were 4,316,233 babies born in the United States. The general fertility rate began declining after the Great Recession that year and has dropped year after year since, with the overall birth rate falling an additional 1% from 2024 to 2025, according to provisional data from the National Center for Health Statistics, a division of the CDC.

"Since 2007, there's been a decline in the general fertility rate of 23%." Brady Hamilton, a demographer with the National Center for Health Statistics, said the provisional birth report is released each spring based on more than 99% of registered births for the previous year. "It gives us basically a sneak peek at some key factors that we can expect when we get the final data for that year." The final birth data for a given year is usually published in August.

The total fertility rate in the United States is now well below the replacement level. Total fertility rates in East Asia, Europe, and many South American countries have also fallen far below replacement level.

Teen pregnancies in the United States decreased by 7% in 2025, according to provisional CDC data. The teen birth rate stood at 11.7 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19, with nearly 126,000 babies born to mothers in that age group. In 1991, the teen birth rate was 61.8 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19, according to NCHS data.

"What is actually affecting the birth rates are likely lower rates of teen pregnancy overall, which is in the context of higher use of contraception and lower sexual activity for youth, and then also continued access to abortion care." Bianca Allison, a pediatrician and associate professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, said this in reference to the declining teen birth rate.

A CDC study published in March 2025 found fertility rates rising among women in their 30s and 40s, though not fast enough to offset drops among younger women. The 2025 provisional birth report covers fewer topics than previous provisional reports, according to the CDC, and does not include analysis of births by the mother's race or ethnicity. Race data remains available on the CDC's WONDER online database. The rate of preterm births was unchanged in 2025.

"The demographics of the country are opposing headwinds. If we're going to have a low-fertility and a low-immigration regime, we're going to have to dramatically raise tax rates. And we're going to have to take meaningful steps to invest in all the things that will make us more productive with fewer working-age people." Melissa Kearney, an economist at the University of Notre Dame, made that assessment. A U.S. Census Bureau report found that population growth in the United States dropped by 50% from 2024 to 2025.