Preliminary Birth Data for 2004

For Immediate Release: October 28, 2005

Contact: CDC National Center for Health Statistics Press Office (301) 458-4800
E-mail: nchsquery@cdc.gov

Preliminary Birth Data for 2004. Health E-Stats.

A new report from CDC抯 National Center for Health Statistics summarizes the 2004 birth data for the United States. Key findings show:

Number of births up; fertility rate up slightly in 2004. There were 4.1 million births in 2004, nearly 1 percent more than in 2003. The general fertility rate in 2004 was up slightly -- 66.3 live births per 1,000 women aged 15-44 years, compared with 66.1 live births per 1,000 women in 2003.

Childbearing by unmarried women reached a record high of almost 1.5 million births in 2004, up 4 percent from 2003. More than 4 in 5 births to teenagers were among unmarried teens. Over half of births to women in their early twenties and nearly 3 in 10 births to women aged 25-29 years were to unmarried women. The birth rate among unmarried women of all ages increased 3 percent from 2003 to 2004. In 2004, 35.7 percent of all births were to unmarried women.

Teenage birth rates declined again in 2004, but at a much slower pace than observed since the declines started after 1991. The birth rate in 2004 for females aged 15-19 years reached an all-time low of 41.2 births per 1,000. This was 1 percent lower than in 2003 (41.6), and 33 percent lower than the teenage birth rate of 61.8 per 1,000 in 1991.

Childbearing by women in their early twenties showed a decline. The birth rate for women aged 20� years decreased 1 percent, to 101.8 births per 1,000 women in 2004, the lowest rate ever reported. Women aged 25-29 years had the highest U.S. birth rate of 115.5 per 1,000 births. This rate was essentially unchanged from 2003.

Births to older women continue to increase. From 2003 to 2004, the birth rate for women aged 30� years increased slightly (less than 1 percent) whereas the rate for women aged 35-39 years rose by 4 percent. The birth rate for women 40� years increased 3 percent, to 9.0 per 1,000, and the rate for women aged 45� years increased in 2004 to 0.6 births per 1,000 women compared with 0.5 in 2003.

This page last reviewed October 06, 2006