Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Total fertility rates in the United States continues to drop, according to new research.
No state in America had a total fertility rate meeting or exceeding the replacement level for white women, according to statistics released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Meanwhile, 29 states had high enough fertility rates to exceed replacement levels for Hispanic women and 12 states reached that goal for black women.
The replacement level is the number of births needed to replace population turnover.
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Researchers say that declining rates of teen pregnancy and birth, as well as a growing number of women who decide to delay pregnancy for any number of reasons, have brought some of these numbers down. But, they say the numbers are likely to rebound at some point.
"It may not be all doom and gloom," Donna Strobino, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told NBC News. "I think it may stabilize once women who have been postponing pregnancy have the births they are planning to have."
The state with the highest total fertility rate for white women was Utah, which more than doubled Washington, D.C, which had the total fertility rate for white women.
Maine had the highest total fertility rate for black women, while Alabama had the highest for Hispanic women.
The total fertility rate in the U.S. fell to 1,765.5 births per 1,000 women, the lowest point since 1978. The fertility.
Hispanic women held the highest fertility rate at 2,006.5, followed by 1,824.5 for black women and 1,666.5 for white women.
Much of the fall in the rates is attributed to fewer teens having babies, in part due to increased use in contraception.
Low total fertility rate can have multiple adverse effects on a country. According to the CDC: "Family size is associated with female labor force participation (1) and economic growth (2), as well as other social and economic changes (3) both at the national and state levels."
