How has the US teen birth rate changed since 1940?

There were 12.6 births per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19 in 2024, the lowest since at least 1940. The rate has fallen about 80% since 1991 (61.8) and about 87% since its 1957 peak (96.3).

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Key facts

Measure: Births per 1,000 females aged 15–19. Written from the data below.

  • The latest figure, for 2024, is 12.6.
  • That is down 77% from 54.1 in 1940.
  • The highest was 96.3 in 1957.
  • It is the lowest in the data, which go back to 1940.

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. “How has the US teen birth rate changed since 1940?” 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/teen-birth-rate (accessed October 15, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly.

Year Births per 1,000 females aged 15–19
1940 54.1
1941 56.9
1942 61.1
1943 61.7
1944 54.3
1945 51.1
1946 59.3
1947 79.3
1948 81.8
1949 83.4
1950 81.6
1951 87.6
1952 86.1
1953 88.2
1954 90.6
1955 90.3
1956 94.6
1957 96.3
1958 91.4
1959 89.1
1960 89.1
1961 88.6
1962 81.4
1963 76.7
1964 73.1
1965 70.5
1966 70.3
1967 67.5
1968 65.6
1969 65.5
1970 68.3
1971 64.5
1972 61.7
1973 59.3
1974 57.5
1975 55.6
1976 52.8
1977 52.8
1978 51.5
1979 52.3
1980 53
1981 52.2
1982 52.4
1983 51.4
1984 50.6
1985 51
1986 50.2
1987 50.6
1988 53
1989 57.3
1990 59.9
1991 61.8
1992 60.3
1993 59
1994 58.2
1995 56
1996 53.5
1997 51.3
1998 50.3
1999 48.8
2000 47.7
2001 45
2002 42.6
2003 41.1
2004 40.5
2005 39.7
2006 41.1
2007 41.5
2008 40.2
2009 37.9
2010 34.2
2011 31.3
2012 29.4
2013 26.5
2014 24.2
2015 22.3
2016 20.3
2017 18.8
2018 17.4
2019 16.7
2020 15
2021 13.9
2022 13.6
2023 13.1
2024 12.6

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