The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that the birth rate in the US showed an increase in trend after seven years. The annual report by the CDC National Center for Health Statistics states that the overall birth rate of the country upturned by 1 percent in 2014, which translates to about four million newborns born to US parents.
The report was based on birth records from the District of Columbia and 50 US states. Ten of the participating states submitted incomplete statistical information. According to the authors of the report, the data they collected amount to about 99.7 percent of all birth records all over the nation in 2014.
The striking ascent in the birth rate may be attributed [pdf] to the notable increase in the births of women in their 30s and 40s. In 2014, the two groups exhibited 2 percent and 3 percent acceleration in birth rate respectively. Specifically, the statistical birth rate data of women in their 30s may be translated to the following: 100.8 for every 1,000 women aged 30-34 and 50.9 for every 1,000 women aged 35-39.
"We are seeing this as sign of the times that people are responding to the end of the recession by being more comfortable in having a child," says Laura Lindberg, a principal research scientist at the Guttmacher Institute. "However it is not clear if the trend will continue."
Women aged 40-44 have also showed consistent rise in birth rates since the 1990s, even during the recession period of 2007-2013. According to Brady E. Hamilton, lead author, statistician and demographer at the National Center for Health Statistics, it is possible that women in their 40s do not feel the need to delay pregnancy compared to younger women.
Data about other birth-related cases were also reviewed by the team of researchers. They found that in 2014, the rate of preterm birth and low birthweight infants decreased to 9.57 percent and 8 percent respectively. Cesarean section delivery data also declined by 2 percent from 2013 to 2014.
The rate of girls giving birth during their teenage years also showed a significant drop of 9 percent from 2013 to 2014, from an annual decrease of 7 percent from 2007 to 2013.
Summing up all the statistical birth rate data collated by the team, the general fertility rate in the US amounts to 62.9 births for every 1,000 women or 3,985,924 live births in 2014.
The drop in US birth rates among the entire age spectrum may be attributed to the recession that the country experienced since 2007, comments Hamilton. But because the economy has showed signs of growth, older women may have push through with their pregnancies. As per the teenagers, various programs and projects such as The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy may be the cause of the previous birth rate decline.
Photo: Jerry Lai | Flickr
