John Elflein
Research expert covering health and health care
Pregnancy - Statistics & Facts
In recent years, birth rates in the United States have reached some of the lowest points in the nation's history. Young people now have fewer children than previous generations and some decide not to have children at all. Reasons why fewer women are deciding to become pregnant are complicated but include the cost of raising a family, concern over access to reproductive health care, and the lack of rights for working parents. There are also fewer unintended pregnancies than there were in the past with education and contraction playing a large role in this change. In 2022, around 65 percent of sexually active women in the United States stated they used contraception in the past year, with 61 percent reporting that preventing pregnancy was the only reason they used contraception.
Teenage pregnancies have also declined
Teenage pregnancy rates have also declined in the United States over the past few decades, although rates remain higher in the U.S. compared to other high-income countries. In 2020, the teenage pregnancy rate in the U.S. was around 26.7 per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19 years. In comparison, this rate was around 118 in the year 1990. The states with the highest rates of teenage pregnancy are Mississippi, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Education and the use of contraception remain the most effective ways to prevent pregnancy among sexually active teens, however, access to contraception and open and honest discussion and education about sex remain issues in many parts of the United States. In 2021, only around 23 percent of sexually active high school girls in the U.S. reported using the birth control pill to prevent pregnancy, and less than 60 percent of sexually active high school boys reported using a condom the last time they had sexual intercourse.Pregnancy risk factors
Pregnancy lasts for around 40 weeks and is divided into three trimesters, each about 13 weeks long. Just before and throughout pregnancy, a women's health is vital as it directly impacts the health of the unborn baby. Certain foods, alcohol, and tobacco can have long term, permanent negative impacts on a child's development during pregnancy. Despite such knowledge being widespread in the United States, around 5.4 percent of women reported smoking while pregnant in 2021, with rates as as 11 percent in the state of Maine. Obesity and diabetes are two growing problems in the United States that also affect pregnancy. In recent years, a large share of pregnant women in the U.S. have been overweight or obese prior to becoming pregnant. The rate of prepregnancy diabetes has also increased in recent years, with older mothers especially at risk. High blood glucose levels during pregnancy raise the risk of birth defects, preterm birth, and still birth.Maternal mortality
Despite advances in medicine and technology, maternal mortality remains a problem in the United States, with the U.S. reporting one of the highest maternal mortality rates among all developed countries worldwide. In 2022, there were 817 maternal deaths in the United States, a slight decrease from the number of deaths in 2020 and 2021. Maternal death rates increase with age, however, all age groups have seen increases in such deaths in recent years. Sadly, there are also great disparities in maternal deaths based on race and ethnicity. For example, in 2022, the rate of maternal mortality among non-Hispanic Black women was around 50 per 100,000 live births, while non-Hispanic white women had a maternal mortality rate of just 19 per 100,000 live births. If the United States wishes to improve its declining birth rate it not only has to improve the economic conditions of parenthood, but also health care access for pregnant women, problems that should be simple for a wealthy country such as the U.S. to solve, but seem to lack political focus, drive, and will.
