The U.S. fertility rate hit a new record low in 2025 as CDC figures showed fewer births among younger women and a path well below replacement.

Breitbart News reported that final birth data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the general fertility rate at 53.2 births per 1,000 females ages 15-22 in 2025. That was a 1 percent drop from 53.8 in 2024 and was described as a new record low.

Total U.S. births slipped as well. The country recorded 3,612,012 births last year, down from 3,628,934 in 2024, a change of less than 1 percent. The average woman today has fewer than two babies, well below replacement rate.

Younger women drove the latest drop

The CDC data showed birth rates falling for females ages 10 through 29. Rates rose for women ages 30 to 44 and held steady for women ages 45 to 49.

Among teens and young adults, the declines were sharp. The rate for ages 15-19 fell 7 percent, from 12.6 births per 1,000 females in 2024 to 11.7 in 2025. For ages 20-24, the rate dropped 6 percent, from 55.8 to 52.3. Ages 25-29 fell 4 percent, from 89.5 to 85.7.

Even the youngest group moved lower. Births to females ages 10-14 went from 0.2 per 1,000 in 2024 to 0.1 in 2025.

In plain terms, the women most often counted in the childbearing years are having fewer babies than the year before. Older mothers picked up some of the slack. That shift does not erase the overall slide.

A century ago, the rate was double

CDC figures cited in the same reporting put the general fertility rate in 1925 at 106.6 births per 1,000 women ages 15-44. That is roughly double the level now reported for 2025.

The new release continues a decadeslong decline. One more year of soft numbers does not reverse a long slide below the level needed to hold a population steady without immigration.

Federal statisticians released the final 2025 birth data on Wednesday. The package covers the national fertility rate, age-specific rates, and the raw birth total. It does not, in the account of the figures, spell out a single cause for the latest drop.

What it does show is clear enough for any taxpayer or parent watching the trend line. Fewer babies among women under 30. A national fertility rate marked as a record low. Total births edging down again. And an average family size that sits below replacement.

Countries that stop having children do not stay young, solvent, or strong forever, and the latest CDC numbers say America is still moving the wrong way.