Youth Indicators 1996 / Indicator 6, Chart 1

Indicator 6. Births

Number of live births per 1,000 women, by age: 1950 to 1992

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States to 1975. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, Monthly Vital Statistics Report, various years; and Vital Statistics of the United States, vol. 1, Natality, 1986, and 1992.

For all age groups shown above, the rates at which women gave birth declined significantly after 1960. For 20- to 29-year-old women, birth rates peaked in 1960 and then fell sharply until 1975. Rates remained stable between 1975 and 1985. During the late 1980s the birth rates for women in their 20s rose. Until 1985, the highest birth rate for women was for those aged 20 to 24. Since the late 1980s, 25- to 29-year-old women have had the highest birth rate. In contrast, birth rates (per 1,000) for 30- to 34-year-old women have risen 30 percent since 1980.

Birth rates for black and American Indian women are higher than for white women among the younger age groups. In 1992, the number of births per 1,000 women 15 to 19 years old was 52 for whites, 112 for blacks, 84 for American Indians, and 27 for Asian or Pacific Islanders. Minority women, except Asian/Pacific Islanders, continue to bear children more frequently in their early 20s than in their late 20s.