Are more women in their early 40s having babies?

There were 12.7 births per 1,000 women aged 40 to 44 in 2024, 3.3 times the low of 3.8 in 1981. In the 1940s and 1950s it was about 15 to 16, when larger families meant more babies born to women in their 40s.

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Key facts

Measure: Births per 1,000 women aged 40–44. Written from the data below.

  • The latest figure, for 2024, is 12.7.
  • That is down 19% from 15.6 in 1940.
  • The highest was 16.6, first reached in 1945.
  • The lowest was 3.8 in 1981.

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Source and date

Source
CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Birth rates for females by age group and Health, United States
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “Are more women in their early 40s having babies?” Chart. Data: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Birth rates for females by age group and Health, United States, https://data.cdc.gov/National-Center-for-Health-Statistics/NCHS-Birth-Rates-for-Females-by-Age-Group-United-S/yt7u-eiyg (data as of December 31, 2024). https://chart.ly/charts/birth-rate-women-40-to-44 (accessed November 4, 2026).

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The data

Download data (CSV)

The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly. Developers can also get them as JSON (how).

Year Births per 1,000 women aged 40–44
1940 15.6
1941 15
1942 14.7
1943 15.7
1944 16.1
1945 16.6
1946 16.5
1947 16.6
1948 15.7
1949 15.3
1950 15.1
1951 15.4
1952 15.5
1953 15.8
1954 16.2
1955 16.1
1956 16.3
1957 16.3
1958 15.7
1959 15.3
1960 15.5
1961 15.6
1962 14.9
1963 14.2
1964 13.8
1965 12.8
1966 11.7
1967 10.6
1968 9.6
1969 8.8
1970 8.1
1971 7.1
1972 6.2
1973 5.4
1974 4.8
1975 4.6
1976 4.3
1977 4.2
1978 3.9
1979 3.9
1980 3.9
1981 3.8
1982 3.9
1983 3.9
1984 3.9
1985 4
1986 4.1
1987 4.4
1988 4.8
1989 5.2
1990 5.5
1991 5.5
1992 5.9
1993 6.1
1994 6.4
1995 6.6
1996 6.8
1997 7.1
1998 7.4
1999 7.4
2000 8
2001 8.1
2002 8.3
2003 8.7
2004 9
2005 9.1
2006 9.4
2007 9.6
2008 9.9
2009 10
2010 10.2
2011 10.3
2012 10.4
2013 10.4
2014 10.6
2015 11
2016 11.4
2017 11.6
2018 11.8
2019 12
2020 11.8
2021 12
2022 12.6
2023 12.5
2024 12.7

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