Maternal Age

In 2004, the general fertility rate rose to 66.3 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 years. The birth rate among teenagers 15 to 19 years continued to decline, reaching another record low. This rate was 33 percent lower than the recent peak of 41.2 births per 1,000 women in this age group reported in 1991. The rate among women aged 20 to 24 years also reached a record low (101.7 per 1,000). Conversely, the birth rate among women aged 30 to 34 years rose slightly (less than 1 percent), while the rates among women aged 35 to 39 and 40 to 44 years rose more notably (4 and 3 percent, respectively). In 2004, just over 10 percent of births were to women aged 19 years and younger and 52 percent were to women in their twenties; just over one-third of births were to women in their thirties, and 2.7 percent were to women in their forties and early fifties.

Among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic women, over half of births were to women in their twenties; exactly half of births to non-Hispanic White women occurred in the same age group. The proportion of births that were to teenagers was higher among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic women (17.2 and 14.3 percent, respectively) than to non-Hispanic White women (7.4 percent). Non-Hispanic White women were more likely than non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic women to give birth in their thirties, forties, and early fifties.

> Pie Charts: Distribution of Births, by Maternal Age and Race/Ethnicity: 2004