Births: final data for 2013.

Abstract

A total of 3,932,181 births were registered in the United States in 2013, down less than 1% from 2012. The general fertility rate declined to 62.5 per 1,000 women aged 15-44. The teen birth rate fell 10%, to 26.5 per 1,000 women aged 15-19. Birth rates declined for women in their 20s and increased for most age groups of women aged 30 and over. The total fertility rate (estimated number of births over a woman's lifetime) declined 1% to 1,857.5 per 1,000 women. Measures of unmarried childbearing were down in 2013 from 2012. The cesarean delivery rate declined to 32.7%. The preterm birth rate declined for the seventh straight year to 11.39%, but the low birthweight rate was essentially unchanged at 8.02%. The twin birth rate rose 2% to 33.7 per 1,000 births; the triplet and higher-order multiple birth rate dropped 4% to 119.5 per 100,000 total births.