Teen birth rates hit another historical low in 2025, CDC says
Source: NPR
April 9, 2026 12:01 AM ET
The teenage birth rate in the U.S. fell by 7% in 2025, continuing decades of decline, according to a report published Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics. "A 7% decline is really quite extraordinary," says the report's lead author, Brady Hamilton, a statistician demographer with the center, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Overall, nearly 126,000 babies were born to mothers ages 15 to 19, according to the analysis of provisional data. The birth rate for that age group was 11.7 births per 1,000 females. By contrast, the teen birth rate in 1991 was 61.8 births per 1,000.
The report also explored other topics related to births in the United States. The overall birth rate fell 1% from the previous year, also continuing a long decline. The rate of preterm births was unchanged. And the cesarean delivery rate increased to 32.5% in 2025, which is the highest rate since 2013, continuing a slight upward trend.
Notably, the provisional report does not include an analysis of births by the mother's race or ethnicity, even though those were included in this report in the last few years. CDC told NPR in a statement that this year's report is "covering fewer topics than previous provisional birth reports," but also that race data is still available on CDC's WONDER online database.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2026/04/09/nx-s1-5777587/teen-birth-rates-hit-another-historical-low-2025-cdc
Link to HHS/CDC/NCHS REPORT (PDF) - https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr043.pdf
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I'm a baby-boomer and I actually became a mother at age 19. I was way, way too young and unprepared for parenthood at the time. Back in 1970 we didn't have so many options and the Catholic girls weren't given information on birth control in those days, (unless you were lucky enough to have a very enlightened mother or older sister.)
I believe that teen girls need to be taught how to make informed choices, and how to make smart decisions that will affect their future. It's part of growing up, and teenage girls need to realize that they aren't ready to be parents yet. Well maybe they think they are, but wisdom comes slowly and it comes at a price.
