Births in the US decreased in 2020 to the lowest level in decades according to preliminary data from the National Center for Health Statistics.
An estimated 3.61 million babies were born in 2020, a decrease of 140,000 or 3.8% less than in 2019. The number of births is at its lowest level since 1979.
It was the sixth straight annual decline in the number of births. US births in 2020 were about 700,000 fewer than the 2007 peak of 4.3 million.
