Annual total fertility rates fell from almost 4 births per woman at the turn of the century to 2.2 births per woman during the Great Depression. They subsequently rose to a postwar peak of 3.7 births per woman in 1957, but fell again by half to 1.8 births per woman in the mid-1980s. With minor fluctuations, the rates have remained at approximately 2 births per woman over the last 20 years.
Background:
35 million women
15 to 44 years old were mothers in June 1998.
Women in the 40
to 44 age group in June 1998 ended their childbearing years with the average
of 1.9 children. This contrasts sharply with their mothers who at the same
age averaged 3.1 births*.
81 percent of
women 40 to 44 years old in June 1998 were mothers, compared to 90 percent
of that age group were mothers in 1976.
Married women
15 to 44 years old had in June 1997 to June 1998 2.5 million births (81.8
births per 1,000 women), compared to 143,000 births (26.4 births per 1,000
women) by divorced or widowed women, and 1 million births (41.3 births
per 1,000 women) by never-married women.
117,000 women
in the 40 to 44 age bracket gave birth in June 1997 to June 1998. This
represented 1 percent of all women in this age group.
29,000 women in
the 40 to 44 age bracket gave birth in June 1997 to June 1998 to their
first baby.
948,000 women
in the 15 to 19 age bracket in June 1998 were teen mothers. They comprised
10 percent of all women this age.
Fertility by race:
Hispanic women
had the highest fertility rate in June 1997 to June 1998 among white non-Hispanics,
blacks, and Asians and Pacific Islanders with 84 births per 1,000 women
who were 15 to 44 years old.
The birth rate
for white non-Hispanic women was 57.2 births per 1,000 women who were 15
to 44 years old.
Blacks had a
slightly higher birth rate than white non-Hispanic women with 62.9 births
per 1,000 women who were 15 to 44 years old.
Asian and Pacific
Islanders had the lowest birth rates of the races with 52.4 births per
1,000 women who were 15 to 44 years old.
Motherhood by age:
36 percent of
women 20 to 24 years old in June 1998 had at least one child, compared
to 56.5 percent of women 25 to 29 years old and 72.6 percent of women 30
to 34 years old.
The percentage
rate in June 1998 of women 35 to 39 years old and 40 to 44 years old with
children are about equal with 80.2 percent and 81 percent, respectively.
The most births
- 950,000- in June 1997 to June 1998 were among women 25 to 29 years old.
Women 20 to 24
years old and 30 to 34 years old in June 1997 to June 1998 had a similar
number of births with 864,000 births and 843,000 births, respectively.
The number of
births by women 15 to 19 years old and 35 to 39 years old had in June 1997
to June 1998 were similar with 460,000 births and 437,000 births, respectively.
Size of family:
The percent of
women in the 40 to 44 age bracket with four or more children dropped from
35.9 percent in 1976 to 9.6 percent in 1998.
During the same
time, the percent of women in that age bracket with two children increased
from 21.7 percent to 35.8 percent.
Also in the same
time period, the percent of women in that age bracket with one child almost
doubled from 9.6 percent to 17.3 percent.
The percent of
those women with three children also slightly decreased from 22.7 percent
in 1976 to 18.2 percent in 1998.
Births by education attained:
793,000 women
who were not high school graduates had births, compared to 1 million high
school graduates who gave birth between June 1997 to June 1998.
Women with college
education of one year or more had the most births in the same time period
with 1.8 million births.
The lowest number
of births in that time period (239,000) was by women with graduate or professional
degrees.
690,000 women
who attended attended college but received no degree had births, compared
to births by 288,000 women with an associate's degree and births by 627,000
women with a bachelor's degree.
Births by family income:
The highest number
of births (663,000) in June 1997 to June 1998 occurred in families earning
$50,000 to $74,999.
The lowest number
of births (230,000) in June 1997 to June 1998 occurred in families earning
$30,000 to $34,999.
Families earning
$25,000 to $29,999 had about the same number of births in June 1997 to
June 1998 with 236,000 births.
Families earning
under $10,000 in the same period had 413,000 births, compared to 484,000
births in families earning $75,000 and over and 301,000 births in families
earning $20,000 to $24,999.
Families earning
$10,000 to $19,999 and $35,000 to $49,999 had about the same number of
births in June 1997 to June 1998 with 514,000 births and 522,000 births,
respectively.
Births by U.S. region:
The highest number
of births occurred in the South between June 1997 to June 1998 with 1.3
million births.
The lowest number
of births occurred in the Northeast during the same time period with 667,000
births.
About the same
number of births occurred in the Midwest and West with 833,000 births and
847,000 births, respectively.
Motherhood in never-married women:
The large majority
of 24.2 million never-married women were childless in June 1998 with 5.5
million (23 percent) had borne a child before June 1997.
Never-married
women in the 40 to 44 age bracket increased their birth rate from 724 children
ever born per 1,000 women in 1976 to 758 children ever born per 1,000 women
in 1998.
The percentage
rate of never-married women with one child slightly increased from 8.7
percent in 1976 to 10.9 percent in 1998.
The percentage
rate of never-married women with two or more children increased from 15.8
percent in 1976 to 22.3 percent in 1998.
Among never-married
teenage women in 1998, 8 percent had borne a child, compared with 40 percent
of never-married women in their thirties.
One-third of women
40 to 44 years old in 1998 who never-married had borne at least one child,
compared to 25 percent in 1976.
Motherhood in never-married women by age:
8.2 percent of
women 15 to 19 years old had in June 1998 at least one child.
The percentage
rate for women 30 to 34 years old and 35 to 39 years old who had in June
1998 at least one child was about equal with 39.8 percent and 39.5 percent,
respectively.
The percentage
rate for women 25 to 29 years old and 40 to 44 years old who had in June
1998 at least one child was about equal with 33.9 percent and 33.2 percent,
respectively.
24.3 percent of
women 20 to 24 years old had in June 1998 at least one child.
Motherhood in never-married women by race:
About half (47.6
percent) of black women 15 to 44 years old had at least one child in June
1998, compared to 10.5 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander women.
The percentage
rate of Hispanic women 15 to 44 years old who had at least one child in
June 1998 was almost double of white non-Hispanic women with 31.4 percent
and 15.9 percent, respectively.
Motherhood in never-married women by education attained:
66 percent of
women 21 to 44 years old who had at least one child in June 1998 did not
graduate from high school, compared to 50.4 percent who graduated high
school.
27.7 percent
of women 21 to 44 years old who had at least one child in 1998 had some
college education but no degree, compared to 8.8 percent who had a bachelor's
degree and above.
Births out of wedlock:
31 percent of
births in June 1998 were out of wedlock.
The highest percent
of births out of wedlock occurred in 15 to 19 year olds with 86 percent
births being out of wedlock.
47 percent of
births by women 20 to 24 year olds were out of wedlock.
One in five births
by women 25 to 29 year olds were out of wedlock.
More than one
in 10 (11 percent) births by 30 to 44 year olds were out of wedlock.
Births out of wedlock by race:
The highest percentage
of out of wedlock births by race was in black women with 67 percent of
all births being outside of marriage.
The lowest percentage
by race was Asian and Pacific Islanders with 19 percent of all births being
outside of marriage.
White non-Hispanics
had a slightly higher percentage rate than Asian and Pacific Islanders
with 22 percent of all birth being outside of marriage.
Hispanics had
almost double the percentage rate than white non-Hispanics with 38 percent
of all births being outside of marriage.
Births out of wedlock by education attained:
The level of educate of women affects the percentage rate for out of wedlock births.
60 percent of
births by women without being a high school graduate were out of wedlock
births, compared to only 3 percent of births by women with a bachelor's
degree and above.
Even the percentage
for out of wedlock births by women who were high school graduates was as
high as 38 percent.
The percentage
rate for out of wedlock births by women with some college education but
no degree was about one in four (26 percent).
Childless women:
The number of
number married women in the 40 to 44 age bracket with no children decreased
from 75.5 percent in 1976 to 66.8 percent in 1998.
19 percent of
American women 40 to 44 years old were childless in 1998, compared to 10
percent of American women of the same age in 1976 and 1980 and 15 percent
of American women of the same age in 1988.
The rate childless
women in 1998 compares to women born in 1900 who had a 20 percent childless
rate in the 40 to 44 years old age bracket.
18.4 percent of
married women, 20.4 percent of divorced or widowed women, and 77.5 percent
of never-married women 15 to 44 years were childless in June 1998.
56.6 percent of
women who were not high school graduates, 28.5 of women who were high school
graduates, 33.1 percent of women with an associate's degree, 47.4 percent
of women with a bachelor's degree, and 47.1 percent of women with a graduate
or professional degree were childless in June 1998.
The percentage
rate of childless women in the 15 to 44 age bracket in the United States'
four regions -northeast, midwest, south and west- was in June 1998 about
the same with 44.7 percent in the Northeast, 42 percent in the Midwest,
40.1 percent in the South, and 43.7 percent in the West.
Childlessness by family income:
The highest percentage
rate in June 1998 for childlessness by income was among families earning
$75,000 and over with 48 percent being childless.
The lowest percentage
rate in 1998 for childlessness by income was among families earning under
$10,000 with 36.2 percent being childless.
The percentage
rate for childless in June 1998 increased along with income in the ranges
running from $10,000 to $34,999 with 38.2 percent to 43.1 percent.
Childlessness
decreased to 40.9 percent in families earning $35,000 to $49,999 and to
42.8 percent in families earning $50,000 to $74,999.
* Births are the number of women who had a birth, not the actual numbers of births themselves.
Please note that women with more one live birth occurring in the 12-month period were counted once; women who had births in the period and died by the survey date were eliminated; and only 51 weeks of data was tabulated in the study due to the interview schedule.
Source: Fertility of American Women, U.S. Census Bureau, September 2000.
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