Hispanic Family Facts: Steep declines in fertility rates among Hispanic women

Hispanic women are experiencing some of the steepest declines in fertility, more than that seen by their non-Hispanic black and white counterparts, according to the CDC’s Births: Final Data for 2017. The general fertility rate (GFR)—the number of births per 1,000 women aged 15-44—among Hispanic women declined from 70.6 in 2016 to 67.6 in 2017. Still, the GFR among Hispanic women remains higher than that of U.S. women overall (60.3).

These declines are driven in part by decreased birth rates among adolescents and young adults. The teen birth rate has fallen to a new low every year since 2009, and the average age at first birth among U.S. women reached an all-time high of 26.8 years in 2017. The average age at first birth for Hispanic women also increased in 2017, to 24.8 years, though it varies substantially across Hispanic subgroups: average age at first birth rose to 24.2 for Mexican-origin women and 24.7 years for Puerto Rican-origin women. The average age at first birth did not change for women of Cuban origin (27.4 years) and Central and South American origin (26.5 years).