Staff Report

NEW YORK — The U.S. birth rate fell 4% in 2020, the biggest single-year decrease in nearly five decades, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The rate dropped for mothers of every major race and ethnicity, and in nearly every age group, falling to the lowest point since federal health officials started tracking it more than a century ago.

The CDC report is based on a review of birth certificates issued last year.

Other highlights from the CDC report:

• About 3.6 million babies were born in the U.S. last year, down from about 3.75 million in 2019.
• The U.S. birth rate dropped to about 56 births per 1,000 women of child-bearing age, the lowest rate on record. The rate is half of what it was in the early 1960s.
• The birth rate for 15– to 19-year-olds dropped 8% from 2019. It’s fallen almost every year since 1991.