The United States’s fertility rate continued its two-decade-long decline during the first quarter of 2026, according to new provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Tuesday. 

The general fertility rate, or the number of births per 1,000 childbearing age women, dropped to 53 during the first three months of 2026. That means fewer than 900,000 babies have been born in the U.S. so far this year.