Once again, the fertility rate in the United States has dipped to an all-time low, new figures from the National Center for Health Statistics show.
In 2016, the overall fertility rate fell to 62 births per 1,000 women ages 15-44 in 2016, largely because of record-low births among women under 30. That fertility rate is below "replacement," the level at which a generation can exactly replace itself.
On the other hand, rates for older women continued their recent rise, though not by nearly enough to offset the decline in younger women.
Over the past two decades, birth rates among teens are down by nearly 65%, while more than doubling for women over 40.
Teens 18-19 had the fastest year-over-year decline in 2016, falling by 3.2 per 1,000. The rate among all teens has plummeted by two-thirds since 1991.
Prenatal care uptake continued to show large racial disparities. Non-Hispanic white and Asian women, for example, started prenatal care in the first trimester in more than 80% of cases. Nearly one-fifth of non-Hispanic native American and Pacific Islanders, however, either started in the third trimester or had no prenatal care.
Many other recent trends in birth rates continued. Among unmarried women, the rate fell to 42.1 birth per 1,000 women in 2016, down 3% since 2015 and representing the eighth consecutive decline since that number peaked in 2007 and 2008.
Preterm births, meanwhile, inched upward to 9.84 per 100, but were still short of the 10.44 rate in 2007.