Number of Younger Mothers Set To Fall Dramatically Amid Population Fears
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
The share of births to women under 25 is set to fall in every world region amid ongoing birth rate fears, new graphs show.
In Northern America, births from women between the ages of 15 and 24 are projected to make up 12 percent of births by 2100, down from about 23 percent this year and 45 percent in 1950.
This is according to the Pew Research Center's analysis of the U.N. Population Division's 2024 Revision of World Population Prospects.
Newsweek previously reported on the trend in mothers having children at consistently older ages, with those between 15 and 19 seeing the most consistently steep fall in the past 50 years.
Pew Research Center graphs showing how the share of births for women under 25 is set to decrease.
Pew Research Center graphs showing how the share of births for women under 25 is set to decrease.
Pew Research Center
Why It Matters
The projected drop in births among women under 25 signals sustained shifts in family formation that could accelerate population aging and shrink future workforces in many countries, pressuring pension systems and public services.
What To Know
Pew Research Center found that the share of births to women younger than 25 was projected to decline in every global region, reflecting a worldwide shift toward later childbearing and smaller family size.
In Europe, this share is set to drop even lower than in Northern America—from 15 percent in 2025 to 9 percent in 2100, down from 35 percent in 1950.
Meanwhile, in Latin America and the Caribbean, where births to women between the ages of 15 and 24 make up about 39 percent in 2025, this age group's share is predicted to drop to 17 percent in 2100.
Africa, where the fertility rate is generally higher than in the rest of the world, births to women under the age of 25 make up about 41 percent—as they did in 1950—and are projected to drop to 20 percent.
Demographers and economists have attributed lower fertility to a mix of factors, including delayed partnership and childbearing, greater labor force participation by women, improved access to contraception, and cultural shifts that places less centrality on parenthood for life plans.
"No one factor can really explain the reductions," said Claire Brindis, a co-director of the Adolescent and Young Adult Health National Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco, citing a lower level of sexual activity among teenagers, a higher level of contraceptive use and wider social changes.
She previously told Newsweek, "We have to give young people a lot of credit" for the dramatic drop in teen pregnancies.
A major challenge to having children is financial security. The 2008 financial crisis—with its effect on housing, inflation and pay—was a major contributor to why people delayed having children, had fewer of them or had none at all.
While some policymakers have proposed incentives such as lump‑sum "baby bonuses" or expanded parental leave, several researchers have urged broader, longer-term supports—such as affordable child care, paid leave and gender‑equal domestic policies—to influence fertility decisions more sustainably.
What People Are Saying
Claire Brindis, a co-director of the Adolescent and Young Adult Health National Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco, previously told Newsweek: "We should recognize that there continues to be segments who are more likely to be at risk—young people who are poor or low income, those who live in rural communities, with less education, and with less hope for economic opportunities continue to be more vulnerable.
"The risks are that we don't continue to invest in young people across all groups, and especially women, if education opportunities are shut off, if economic options (as an alternative to going to college), if student loans are eliminated or more difficult to get, if families have more economic struggles, if access to birth control or other social support services, for example, many of these positive trends can evaporate."
Phillip B. Levine, an economist from Wellesley College in Massachusetts, who recently conducted a study on the cultural reasons behind the birth rate decline, previously told Newsweek: "Policies like parental leave, child care subsidies, baby bonuses, etc. are much easier to implement and have the potential to affect fertility more rapidly, if they were effective. Changing the social conditions that encourage family formation is more difficult and takes longer to accomplish."
What Happens Next
Many governments have made addressing declining birth rates a priority. In the U.S., President Donald Trump's administration has explored giving women a "baby bonus" of $5,000, according to an April New York Times report.
Lawmakers have also looked at making childbirth free for privately insured families and tying states' transportation funding to their birth and marriage rates.
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