The U.S. birth rate has been dropping for years, but it seems to finally be "leveling off," although teen pregnancy rates have reached a historic low. Pregnancies in women in their late 30s and early 40s have actually increased.
The number of babies born last years is only marginally smaller (by a few hundred) than the rates of 2011, the Huffington Post Reported. This suggests people are less afraid to have babies than they have been in recent years, possibly because of economic changes.
Birth rates rapidly increased during the 1990s and earlier 2000s; they finally hit the ceiling at around 4.3 million in 2007. The years after that saw a drastic decline, which has been linked to the failing economy.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released the numbers for 2012.
The revealing report showed the pregnancy rate for girls between the ages of 15 and 19 dropped an impressive six percent since 2011. Two years ago there was an average of 31.3 births out of every 1,000 young women, last year there were only 29.4, USA Today reported.
"It really is this magic formula of less sex and more contraception that has driven the rates down," Bill Albert, a spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, told USA Today. "More kids are delaying sex, which is a good and responsible thing to do, and the kids who are having sex are using contraception more consistently and carefully, also a good and responsible thing to do."
The CDC report claimed women over 35 were actually having more babies. The rates rose by two percent in the middle-aged crowd. The pregnancy rate in older moms has been on a subtle rise over the past few years.
"Experts say that's because older women generally have better jobs or financial security, and are more sensitive to the ticking away of their biological clocks," the Huffington Post reported.
