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Society & PopulationU.S. edition

US fertility rate: 1.63 births per woman in 2024, year by year since 2017

The US total fertility rate was 1.63 births per woman in 2024, a little higher than the 1.62 recorded in 2023 and lower than the 1.77 recorded in 2017.

Published 2 min read

  • 20171.77
  • 20181.73
  • 20191.71
  • 20201.64
  • 20211.66
  • 20221.66
  • 20231.62
  • 20241.63
U.S. · Fertility rate · World Bank

U.S. Fertility rate →

The latest figure

If you live in the United States, the most recent official figure puts the total fertility rate at 1.63 births per woman for 2024. This is an annual figure. It estimates how many children a woman would have over her lifetime if the birth rates of that year held.

Sources for this paragraph (1)

The 2024 value is slightly above the 2023 value of 1.62. The change from one year to the next is small.

Sources for this paragraph (2)

The series, year by year

From 2017 to 2020, each year came in lower than the one before: 1.77 in 2017, 1.73 in 2018, 1.71 in 2019 and 1.64 in 2020.

Sources for this paragraph (4)

The 2021 figure, 1.66, was higher than the 2020 figure of 1.64. The 2022 figure was the same as 2021, at 1.66.

Sources for this paragraph (3)

The 2023 figure, 1.62, was lower than the 2022 figure of 1.66. It is the lowest value in this series. The 2024 figure, 1.63, was higher than the 2023 figure.

Sources for this paragraph (3)

2024 compared with 2017

The 2024 rate of 1.63 is lower than the 2017 rate of 1.77. Over these eight years of data, the rate was lower than in 2017 in every later year.

Sources for this paragraph (2)

The facts provided here cover only the United States, so this report does not compare the US rate with other countries.

Sources for this paragraph (1)

What it means for people in the United States

For a household, the fertility rate is a broad signal about future school enrollment, the size of the future workforce and the balance between younger and older residents. The figure itself does not describe any one family.

Sources for this paragraph (1)

Separately, US population growth was 0.52% in 2025, an annual measure. That figure includes more than births, and the facts here do not break it down, so it cannot be read as a direct result of the fertility rate.

Sources for this paragraph (1)

Another separate statistic shows that people aged 65 and above made up 18.39% of the US population in 2025. This is a share of the population, not a rate of change, and it is measured differently from the fertility rate and from population growth.

Sources for this paragraph (1)
  • C80 U.S. · Share of population aged 65+ · 18.39% · 2025 · World Bank

What the data does not show

The figures do not explain why the rate changed in any year. They also do not show differences by age group, region or income. The latest value is for 2024, so the data cannot say what happened in 2025 or 2026.

Sources for this paragraph (1)

Scenarios to watch

  • Scenario, not a forecast If the next annual figure comes in above the 2024 value, it would mark a second year in a row above the 2023 low point in this series.
  • Scenario, not a forecast If the next annual figure comes in below the 2024 value, the small uptick in 2024 would look like a one-year change rather than a new direction.

What to check next

  • The next annual release of the US total fertility rate, covering 2025
  • Whether population growth figures are published with a breakdown of births and other components
  • Updates to the share of the population aged 65 and above

Verified data used in this report

IndicatorValuePeriodSourcesAccessed
F1U.S. · Fertility rate1.772017World Bank
F2U.S. · Fertility rate1.732018World Bank
F3U.S. · Fertility rate1.712019World Bank
F4U.S. · Fertility rate1.642020World Bank
F5U.S. · Fertility rate1.662021World Bank
F6U.S. · Fertility rate1.662022World Bank
F7U.S. · Fertility rate1.622023World Bank
F8U.S. · Fertility rate1.632024World Bank
C77U.S. · GDP growth2.16%2025World Bank
C78U.S. · Unemployment rate4.2%2025World Bank
C80U.S. · Share of population aged 65+18.39%2025World Bank
C81U.S. · Population growth0.52%2025World Bank
C82U.S. · Consumer price inflation3.7%2026-09U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
C83U.S. · Energy price inflation20.4%2026-09U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
C84U.S. · Food price inflation1.8%2026-09U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
C85U.S. · Fuel price inflation34.2%2026-09U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
C86U.S. · Housing cost inflation3.2%2026-09U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
C87U.S. · Unemployment rate4.2%2026-09U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
C88U.S. · Wage growth3%2026-09U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Sources

  • Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) — license
  • Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — license

How this report was checked

  • Data: the newest reference period cited is 2026-09.
  • Figures were collected from the source on
  • Written by an AI model (claude-opus-5-5) using only the official figures listed in this report.
  • Automatic checks passed: every number matches a cited figure, every paragraph names its evidence, and there is no investment advice or copied source text.
  • A separate quality-check model found no unsupported or speculative sentences.
  • No person reviewed this report before publication. Automatic checks confirm the numbers, not every interpretation.
Update history
  • 2026-11-01 12:30 UTC — created
  • 2026-11-01 12:30 UTC — approved+published

This analysis was written by AI from official statistics and passed automated checks. Last checked: 2026-11-01

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