CDC: U.S. birth rate drops from 2007-2009

HYATTSVILLE, Md., March 31 (UPI) -- U.S. births reached an all-time high of 4,316,233 in 2007, but from 2007 through 2009, fell 4 percent to 4,131,019, health officials say.

A report by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the U.S. fertility decline from 2007 through 2009 is relatively small in a historical context compared with the declines in the early 20th century and in the 1960s and early 1970s.

From 2007 through 2009, U.S. birth rates fell for all women age 40 and under -- birth rates fell 9 percent for women ages 20–24, to 96.3 births per 1,000 women, the lowest rate ever recorded for this age group and 6 percent for women ages 25–29.

The birth rate for teenage women ages 15–19 also declined, dropping by 8 percent from 2007 through 2009 -- to 39.1 births per 1,000 women -- the lowest birth rate ever recorded for this age group, the report says.

However, birth rates rose 6 percent for women ages 40–44, but this group represented only 3 percent of total births in 2009, health officials say.

The fertility rate for Hispanic women fell 9 percent from 2007 to 2009 -- the largest decline of any group -- while the birth rate fell 3 percent for American Indian or Alaska Native women and 4 percent for non-Hispanic black and Asian or Pacific Islander women.