FRIDAY, April 26, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- In 2023, birth rates in the United States were down, according to an April Vital Statistics Rapid Release provisional report, a publication from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Brady E. Hamilton, Ph.D., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, and colleagues examined provisional 2023 data on U.S. births using birth records received and processed by the National Center for Health Statistics as of Jan. 25, 2024.
The researchers found there were 3,591,328 births in the United States in 2023, down 2 percent from 2022. For women ages 15 to 44 years, the general fertility rate was 54.4 births per 1,000 women, down 3 percent from 2022, while the total fertility rate was 1,616.5 births per 1,000 women, a decline of 2 percent from 2022. Declines in birth rates were seen for women in age groups 15 to 19 years through 35 to 39 years but were unchanged for the 10- to 14-year-old age group and for women ages 40 to 44 and 45 to 49 years. There was a 3 percent decline in the birth rate for teenagers ages 15 to 19 years, but the rate for younger teenagers (ages 15 to 17 years) was unchanged; the rate for older teenagers (ages 18 to 19 years) declined 3 percent. There was a rise in the cesarean delivery rate (32.4 percent in 2023 versus 32.1 percent in 2022).
"Statistics from previous provisional reports have been shown to be consistent with the final statistics for the year," the authors write.
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