Abstract
OBJECTIVES: This report presents highlights from 2024 final birth data on key demographic and medical and healthcare indicators. The number of births, the general fertility rate (GFR) (the number of births per 1,000 females ages 15-44), agespecific birth rates, primary cesarean delivery rates by age of mother, and the percentage of births covered by Medicaid by age of mother are presented. For all indicators, results for 2024 are compared with those for 2023. METHODS: This report uses data from the natality data file from the National Vital Statistics System. The vital statistics natality file is based on information from birth certificates and includes information for all births occurring in the United States. This report accompanies the release of the 2024 natality public-use file (3). More detailed analyses of the topics presented in this report and other topics, such as births by age of mother, tobacco use during pregnancy, pregnancy risk factors, prenatal care timing and use, receipt of WIC food, maternal body mass index, and breastfeeding are possible using the annual natality files (3). KEY FINDINGS: The number of births in the United States increased 1% from 2023 to 2024, to 3,628,934 births. The general fertility rate declined 1% from 2023 to 2024 to 53.8 births per 1,000 females ages 15-44.