Vermont reported to have lowest fertility rate in the nation

• South Dakota has the highest fertility rate in the US with an average of 71.2 births per 1,000 women
• North Dakota is in second place with a fertility rate of 70.1 per 1,000 women, closely followed by Alaska with a rate of 67.9 per 1,000
• Vermont had the lowest fertility rate at 46.7
• 18,627,306 babies were born in the US between 2017-2021

Vermont Business Magazine A new study by Birth Injury Lawyers Group has examined data from the National Center for Health Statistics to see which US states have the highest fertility rates and which have the lowest. Fertility rates between the years 2017-2021 were used to create an average overall fertility rate for each state across the five-year period.  The fertility rates were calculated by taking the total number of live births in each state and dividing it by the number of women in that population. This was then expressed as the number of births per 1,000 women aged 15-44. 

The national average fertility rate across the US is 58.8 births per 1,000 women. Vermont had the lowest fertility rate at 46.7.

South Dakota has the highest fertility rate in the US, with an average of 71.2 births per 1,000 women. The total number of births between 2017-2021 came to 57,805 in total, with 2017 experiencing the highest number of births at 12,134 babies in total. The average number of births in South Dakota totals 11,561.

The second most fertile state in the US is North Dakota, with a fertility rate of 70.1 per 1,000 women. Between 2017-2021, 51,884 babies were born within this period, with 2017 being the most fertile year with 10,737 births in total. The average number of births per year in North Dakota is 10,399. 

Alaska has the third highest fertility rate, with an average of 67.9 births per 1,000 women. A total of 49,189 babies were born between 2017-2021 in which 2017 was the peak year of high fertility, totaling 10,445 births that year. Alaska experiences an average of 9,838 births per year. 

In fourth place is Utah, with an average fertility rate of 67.0 births per 1,000 women. 47,007 babies are born on average per year in Utah, 235,043 births in total between 2017-2021. 2017 also proves to be the most fertile year for Utah, with 48,585 births overall. 

Nebraska comes in fifth with an average fertility rate of 66.7 births per 1,000 women. Between 2017-2021, 124,964 babies were born. The highest number of births recorded was in 2017 at 25,821. On average, there is 24,993 births per year in Nebraska. 

Louisiana is in sixth, with a fertility rate of 63.7 births per 1,000 women. There were 294,339 births in total between 2017-2021 and on average, Louisiana has an average of 58,868 births per year. 2017 proved the most fertile year, with 61,018. 

In seventh place is Idaho, with a fertility rate of 63.3 births per 1,000 women. In the years 2017-2021, 109,607 babies were born. Idaho has shown the most fertility in the later years of 2021, with a total of 22,427 births. The average amount of births per year in Idaho works out at 21,921. 

Oklahoma is the eighth most fertile state, with a rate of 63.2 births per 1,000 women. Throughout the five-year period, 245,190 births took place, 2017 proving most fertile with 50,214 births that year. Oklahoma has an average number of 49,038 births per year. 

In ninth place is Kansas, with a fertility rate of 63.0 births per 1,000 women. There were 177,256 births between 2017-2021, 2017 being the most fertile year with 36,519 births. Kansas has an average of 35,451 births a year. 

Arkansas is the tenth most fertile state, with a fertility rate of 62.9 births per 1,000 women. The total amount of births between 2017-2021 was 182,318, the most taking place in 2017 where 37,520 babies were born. The average number of births in Arkansas is 36,464. 

Bob Goldwater from Birth Injury Lawyer Group has commented on the findings: “Fertility rates are not as high as they used to be with many states displaying higher fertility levels in earlier years. Most states display a gradual decrease throughout the years amongst a few anomalies. There could be a wide variety of factors affecting the drop in fertility rates, including greater access to birth control, lower child mortality rates, and improved educational opportunities for women. 

“Starting a family can also be very expensive at this moment in time with the unpredictability of living costs. When adding another human into the picture, most of your finances will double such as rent costs, food shops, medical bills, and plenty of other financial contributors. This could explain why the fertility rate has slowed down over the past years compared to what it used to be." 

Full Ranking

Source: National Center for Health Statistics

Methodology 

Using data from the National Center for Health Statistics in the years 2017-2021, fertility rates for each year per state were extracted and an average was created for each overall. These figures were used to determine which states have the highest fertility rates in the US.

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