While the standard image of the nuclear family with two parents and 2.5 children has persisted in the American imagination, the number of births in the U.S. has steadily been decreasing since 1990, with about 3.67 million babies born in 2022. In 1990, this figure was 4.16 million. Birth and replacement rates A country’s birth rate is defined as the number of live births per 1,000 inhabitants, and it is this particularly important number that has been decreasing over the past few decades. The declining birth rate is not solely an American problem, with EU member states showing comparable rates to the U.S. Additionally, each country has what is called a “replacement rate.” The replacement rate is the rate of fertility needed to keep a population stable when compared with the death rate. In the U.S., the fertility rate needed to keep the population stable is around 2.1 children per woman, but this figure was at 1.67 in 2022. Falling birth rates Currently, there is much discussion as to what exactly is causing the birth rate to decrease in the United States. There seem to be several factors in play, including longer life expectancies, financial concerns (such as the economic crisis of 2008), and an increased focus on careers, all of which are causing people to wait longer to start a family. How international governments will handle falling populations remains to be seen, but what is clear is that the declining birth rate is a multifaceted problem without an easy solution.

The graph illustrates the number of babies born in the United States from 1995 to 2025. The x-axis represents the years, labeled from '95 to '25, while the y-axis shows the annual number of births. Over this 30-year period, birth numbers peaked at 4,316,233 in 2007 and reached a low of 3,596,017 in 2023. The data reveals relatively stable birth rates from 1995 to 2010, with slight fluctuations, followed by a gradual decline starting around 2017. The information is presented in a line graph format, effectively highlighting the long-term downward trend in U.S. birth numbers over the specified timeframe.

The total number of live births fluctuated over the past 23 years in Denmark. It was at its lowest in 2013, when it was below 56,000. In 2023, 57,500 babies were born in Denmark. The previous year, there was a higher number of boys than girls born, reaching a number of roughly 30,000. The number of live female births reached 28,000.

 Age of women giving birth  The average age of Danish women giving birth increased slightly over the past decade, from 30.9 years to 31.4 years in 2022. It is due to many women focusing on taking higher education and building a successful career before becoming mothers. However, mothers can take paid leave to care for their baby without having to quit their job in Denmark.

Number of deaths

Since 2014, the number of deaths in Denmark increased, reaching 59,000 in 2022, which was higher than the number of births that year. Cancerous tumors was the most common cause of death.

ANC

This dataset contains counts of live births for California as a whole based on information entered on birth certificates. Final counts are derived from static data and include out of state births to California residents, whereas provisional counts are derived from incomplete and dynamic data. Provisional counts are based on the records available when the data was retrieved and may not represent all births that occurred during the time period.

The final data tables include both births that occurred in California regardless of the place of residence (by occurrence) and births to California residents (by residence), whereas the provisional data table only includes births that occurred in California regardless of the place of residence (by occurrence). The data are reported as totals, as well as stratified by parent giving birth's age, parent giving birth's race-ethnicity, and birth place type. See temporal coverage for more information on which strata are available for which years.

Number and percentage of live births, by month of birth, 1991 to most recent year.

Between 2010 and 2023, the number of births in Italy decreased constantly. In 2010, 550,000 births were registered in the country, while in 2022 the figure dropped to less than 400,000, with a forecast for 2023 of only around 380,000 new babies. The largest number of births nationwide was registered in the North Italian region of Lombardy, with approximately 58,900 infants born in 2021. Indeed, Lombardy is the most populous region of the country. Birth rates Data on birth rates in Italy reveal that Lombardy is only fifth in terms of infants born per 1,000 inhabitants. In 2023, Trentino-South Tyrol recorded the highest birth rate nationwide, with 7.9 newborns per 1,000 inhabitants. Three Southern regions followed in the ranking: Campania, Sicily, and Calabria. In fact, in 2023, the South was the macro-region with the largest birth rate in Italy. Aging population Due to the lower birth rates, the Italian population is aging fast. According to estimates for 2024, the average age in Italy is 46.6 years, 3.2 years older than in 2010. This figure is estimated to increase further in the upcoming years. Projections made in 2019 suggested that the median age will reach 50.8 years in 2030. Afterward, the average age of Italians might reach 53.6 years by 2050.

The percentage of children born with a birth weight of at least 5 pounds out of all births in the area. Source: Maryland Department of Vital Statistics Years Available: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015ity , 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

Annual live births in England and Wales by age of mother and father, type of registration, median interval between births, number of previous live-born children and National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC).

The percentage of children born with a birth weight of at least 5 pounds out of all births in the area. Source: Maryland Department of Vital Statistics Years Available: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015ity , 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

Over the past 10 years, the highest number of babies born in Sweden was in 2016, when over 117,000 births occurred. In 2023, the number of new-born babies dropped to 100,000. Within the last decade, there were yearly more boys than girls born in the country.

Lowest fertility rate in a ten-year period

In Sweden, the fertility rate reached the lowest point in a ten-year period in 2022. The fertility rate is defined as the number of children that would be born or are likely to be born to a woman if she lives to the end of her reproductive years, and in 2022 it was down to 1.52 children per woman in Sweden. By comparison, the Faroe Islands had the highest fertility rate in Europe at 2.71.

Lowest crude rate of birth in thirteen years

As with the fertility rate, the crude birth rate in Sweden was at its lowest point for several years in 2022. It is defined as the number of live births in a given geographical area in a given time period, per thousand mid-year population, and it was down to 10 in 2022, which was the lowest number in the past decade.

The percentage of children born with a birth weight of at least 5 pounds out of all births in the area. Source: Maryland Department of Vital Statistics Years Available: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015ity , 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

The National Community Child Health Database consists of anonymised records for all children born, resident or treated in Wales and born after 1987. The database combines data from local Community Child Health System databases which are held by local health boards.

This is a public use data file on Delaware Births for 2009 to 2016 obtained from the Delaware certificate of live births. It includes the basic demographic information of the mother and some characteristics of birth.

This dataset contains percent preterm and very preterm live births by race/ethnic group of mother. Preterm births are all live births less than 37 weeks of gestation. Very preterm births are all live births less than 32 weeks of gestation. Important growth and development occur throughout pregnancy, especially in the final months and weeks. There is a higher risk of serious disability or death the earlier a baby is born. Gestational age is based on obstetric estimate at delivery (OE). Data includes births with gestational age of 17-47 weeks. Note: The race and ethnic groups in this table utilize eight mutually exclusive race and ethnicity categories. These categories are Hispanic and the following Non-Hispanic categories of Multi-Race, African-American, American Indian (includes Eskimo and Aleut), Asian, Pacific Islander (includes Hawaiian), White (includes Other race) and Unknown (includes refused to state and missing).

Data should not be compared to other data where gestational age is based on the date of last normal menses (LMP) and not OE. The National Center for Health Statistics recently transitioned to using an OE-based gestational age measure due to increasing evidence of its greater validity compared with the LMP-based measure. (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_05.pdf)

Historical chart and dataset showing U.S. birth rate by year from 1950 to 2025.

This is a source dataset for a Let's Get Healthy California indicator at https://letsgethealthy.ca.gov/. Infant Mortality is defined as the number of deaths in infants under one year of age per 1,000 live births. Infant mortality is often used as an indicator to measure the health and well-being of a community, because factors affecting the health of entire populations can also impact the mortality rate of infants. Although California’s infant mortality rate is better than the national average, there are significant disparities, with African American babies dying at more than twice the rate of other groups. Data are from the Birth Cohort Files. The infant mortality indicator computed from the birth cohort file comprises birth certificate information on all births that occur in a calendar year (denominator) plus death certificate information linked to the birth certificate for those infants who were born in that year but subsequently died within 12 months of birth (numerator). Studies of infant mortality that are based on information from death certificates alone have been found to underestimate infant death rates for infants of all race/ethnic groups and especially for certain race/ethnic groups, due to problems such as confusion about event registration requirements, incomplete data, and transfers of newborns from one facility to another for medical care. Note there is a separate data table "Infant Mortality by Race/Ethnicity" which is based on death records only, which is more timely but less accurate than the Birth Cohort File. Single year shown to provide state-level data and county totals for the most recent year. Numerator: Infants deaths (under age 1 year). Denominator: Live births occurring to California state residents. Multiple years aggregated to allow for stratification at the county level. For this indicator, race/ethnicity is based on the birth certificate information, which records the race/ethnicity of the mother. The mother can “decline to state”; this is considered to be a valid response. These responses are not displayed on the indicator visualization.

statistic_yyy (statistical year), according (according to category), district_code (region code), site_id (region category), sex (baby gender), father_age (biological father's age), mother_age (biological mother's age), birth_count (baby birth number)

The number of live births in Finland declined steadily between 2014 and 2024. After peaking at over 57,200 in 2014, the number of births decreased by roughly 14,500 by 2024. In 2024, around 43,720 babies were born in Finland. Only in 2020 and 2021, the number of live births increased compared to the previous year. Fertility rate dropped to an all-time low in Finland The slowing increase in the Finnish population can be seen in the country’s decreasing fertility rate, which dropped to an all-time low in 2024. The estimated number of children born to a woman amounted to 1.25 in 2024, whereas in 2014 this was 1.71. Finland is facing an aging population The largest age group within the Finnish population were 20 to 39 year-olds, and 40 to 59 year-olds as of 2024. However, from 2018 to 2024, the number of young people decreased, while those aged 60 and older increased, reaching over 1.6 million by 2022. This indicates a shift towards an older population structure. Finland's total population is projected to grow until 2075. The population is aging, with an increase in those aged 60 and older. By 2065, people aged 75 and older are expected to exceed one million. Meanwhile, the number of people under 45 is predicted to continually decrease until 2070.

Number of live births, by place of residence of mother (Canada, province or territory, and outside Canada) and place of occurrence (Canada, province or territory, and the United States), 1991 to most recent year.