U.S. Births Fall Again In 2023

Teen birth rates are again lower than they have ever been in the history and prehistory of humans in North America. 

The provisional number of births for the United States in 2023 was 3,591,328, down 2% from 2022. The general fertility rate was 54.4 births per 1,000 females ages 15–44, down 3% from 2022. The total fertility rate was 1,616.5 births per 1,000 women in 2023, a decline of 2% from 2022. Birth rates declined for females in age groups 15–19 through 35–39 and were unchanged for females ages 10–14 and for women ages 40–44 and 45–49 in 2023. The birth rate for teenagers ages 15–19 declined by 3% in 2023 to 13.2 births per 1,000 females; the rate for younger teenagers (ages 15–17) was unchanged, and the rate for older teenagers (ages 18–19) declined 3%. . . . 

The provisional number of births for the United States in 2023 was 3,591,328, down 2% from the number in 2022 (3,667,758). The number of births declined by an average of 2% per year from 2015 to 2020, including a decline of 4% from 2019 to 2020, rose 1% from 2020 to 2021, and was essentially unchanged from 2021 to 2022.

The provisional number of births declined 5% for American Indian and Alaska Native women, 4% for Black women, 3% for White women, and 2% for Asian women from 2022 to 2023. Births rose 1% for Hispanic women and were essentially unchanged for Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander women. . . .

The provisional total fertility rate for the United States in 2023 was 1,616.5 births per 1,000 women, down 2% from the rate in 2022 (1,656.5); the rate had declined less than 1% from 2021 to 2022, risen 1% from 2020 to 2021, and declined 2% per year from 2014 through 2020. The total fertility rate estimates the number of births that a hypothetical group of 1,000 women would have over their lifetimes, based on the age-specific birth rate in a given year.

The total fertility rate in 2023 remained below replacement—the level at which a given generation can exactly replace itself (2,100 births per 1,000 women). The rate has generally been below replacement since 1971 and consistently below replacement since 2007. . . . 

The provisional birth rate for teenagers in 2023 was 13.2 births per 1,000 females ages 15–19, down 3% from 2022 (13.6) and another record low for this age group. The rate declined an average of 7% annually from 2007 through 2022. The rate has declined by 68% since 2007 (41.5), the most recent period of continued decline, and 79% since 1991, the most recent peak. The number of births to females ages 15–19 was 140,801 in 2023, down 2% from 2022.

Provisional birth rates for teenagers ages 15–17 and 18–19 in 2023 were 5.6 and 24.9 births per 1,000 females, respectively; the birth rate for younger teenagers (ages 15–17) was unchanged from 2022, whereas the rate for older teenagers (ages 18–19) was down by 3%, a new record low. From 2007 through 2023, rates for teenagers ages 15–17 and 18–19 declined by 8% and 6% per year, respectively.

From the National Center for Health Statistics: Births: Provisional Data for 2023.

Birth rates by race and ethnicity are as follows and the differences by race and ethnicity are generally significantly smaller than they were few decades ago:

More Thoughts On The Conflict In Israel

* Palestine hasn't been a sovereign state for more than 75 years and the international community has done great harm by supporting this expectation. Palestinian claims for a right of return have no validity. Claims that people who have never lived in Israel proper (which is the case for most Palestinians in Gaza) are refugees aren't valid either. Conquest is a legitimate basis for sovereignty.

* In the same way, the international community has done great harm by refusing to recognize the People's Republic of China's claim to Taiwan and by not pressuring Taiwan to drop its claims to the mainland. 

* The current conflict is fundamentally the fault of the Hamas leadership in Gaza supported by Iran.

* The military actions of Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, Iranian backed militias in Iraq and Syria, and Iran, purported directed at Israel are all completely unjustified. The U.S. and Israel should formally declare war on all of them, exterminating completely all of the soldiers and political leaders behind all of Iran's proxies and destroying Iran's military capabilities and nuclear efforts of all kinds completely.

* Gaza claims that 32,000 lives of its 2.3 million people have been lost, it should count itself lucky that the number is so small. Everything that it has suffered, it has brought on itself, with broad popular support. It should have unconditionally surrendered. Instead, even now, most Gazans support the decision to launch the October 7 attack, and still is pushing for Palestinian sovereignty, and still wants to exterminate Israel. They tried, over and over again. They lost. It's over. The Middle East will be at war forever until the world acknowledges once and for all that the Palestinians lost.

* Gaza cannot support 2.3 million people anymore in any sustainable way due to destroyed homes and infrastructure. Something like half of the population needs to be relocated somewhere. And, about the same proportion of Gazans would like to leave. The international community should stop questioning the fact that most Gazans need to be relocated, i.e. exiled, basically permanently, and should start recruiting countries to receive exiled Gazans. Exile is really the only solution that is humane and viable. If the Islamic world really cares about the people suffering in Gaza, it should offer to take them in with open arms.

* Cease fires, efforts to reinstate local home rule, and so on, are only aggravating the suffering.

* The Palestinians of the West Bank should be given a choice: be ceded to Jordan or be exiled with the people of Gaza. They chose Hamas to lead their home rule too, and as such, they should not be eligible for further local home rule.