A woman at an abortion-rights protest in New York in 2023 holds a pregnancy test. The U.S. teen pregnancy rate in 2025 was 11.7 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19, according to provisional data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)
The teenage birth rate in the U.S. fell 7% in 2025, continuing a decades-long decline, according to a report published Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics.
“A 7% decline is really quite extraordinary,” says the report’s lead author, Brady Hamilton, a statistician demographer with the center, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Overall, nearly 126,000 babies were born to mothers ages 15 to 19, according to the analysis of provisional data. The birth rate for that age group was 11.7 births per 1,000 females. By contrast, the teen birth rate in 1991 was 61.8 births per 1,000.
The report also examined other birth trends in the United States. The overall birth rate fell 1% from the previous year, continuing a long-term decline. The preterm birth rate was unchanged. The cesarean delivery rate rose to 32.5% in 2025, the highest since 2013, continuing a modest upward trend.
Notably, this provisional report does not include analysis of births by the mother’s race or ethnicity, though those breakdowns appeared in recent provisional reports. The CDC said this year’s release covers fewer topics than previous provisional reports but noted that race and ethnicity data remain available through the agency’s WONDER online database.
The provisional report, issued each spring, is based on more than 99% of registered births for the previous year and offers an early look at key measures that the final data—typically published in August—will confirm.
The harder “why” question
While birth certificates provide demographic, geographic and other details about births, “the birth certificate does not allow us to address the question of why,” Hamilton says.
Many factors have contributed to the 35-year decline in teen birth rates, says Bianca Allison, a pediatrician and professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. “What is actually affecting the birth rates are likely lower rates of teen pregnancy overall, which is in the context of higher use of contraception and lower sexual activity for youth, and then also continued access to abortion care,” she says.
Interpreting the decline is complex. Concerns about the falling general birth rate in the U.S. are common, but the drop in teen births can be viewed differently depending on perspective.
“I think it depends on who you’re talking to and how they’re positioned and looking at the data,” says Allison, a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health. “From my perspective, as somebody who specifically studies the provision of high-quality reproductive health care and access for young people, this should be celebrated as long as this is aligned with what people are actually wanting for themselves.”
Allison cautions against assuming the issue is solved. Negative narratives about teen parenthood often reflect insufficient societal, institutional and systemic supports rather than young people’s inability to parent. She warns that declining teen birth rates should not lead to reduced investment in supports for teen parents, who still need educational, social and medical resources to thrive.