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(AP) - More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than any year in the nation's history, topping the peak during
the baby boom 50 years earlier, federal researchers reported
Wednesday.

      There is both good and bad news from the more than 4.3 million births.  The U.S. population is more than replacing itself, a healthy trend. However, the teen birth rate was up for the second year in a row.

      The birth rate rose slightly for women of all ages, and births
to unwed mothers reached an all-time high of about 40 percent,
continuing a trend begun years ago. More than three-quarters of
these women were 20 or older.


      For a variety of reasons, it's become more acceptable for women
to have babies without a husband, said Duke University's S. Philip
Morgan, a leading fertility researcher.


      Even happy couples may be living together without getting
married, experts say. And more women - especially those in their
30s and 40s - are choosing to have children despite their single
status.


      The new numbers indicate the nation is experiencing a baby
boomlet with fertility rates higher in every racial group. On
average, a U.S. woman has 2.1 babies in her lifetime. The highest
fertility rates were among Hispanics.


      But it's not clear the boomlet will last long. Some experts
think birth rates are already declining because of the economic
recession that began in late 2007.


      "I expect they'll go back down. The lowest birth rates recorded
in the United States occurred during the Great Depression - and
that was before modern contraception," said Dr. Carol Hogue, an
Emory University professor of maternal and child health.


      The 2007 statistical snapshot reflected a relatively good
economy coupled with cultural trends that promoted childbirth, she
and others noted.


      Meanwhile, U.S. abortions have been dropping to their lowest
levels in decades, according to other reports. Some have attributed
the abortion decline to better use of contraceptives, but other
experts have wondered if the rise in births might indicate a
failure in proper use of contraceptives. Some earlier studies have
shown declining availability of abortions.


      Cultural attitudes may be a more likely explanation. Morgan
noted the pregnancy of Bristol Palin, the unmarried teen daughter
of former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The young
woman had a baby boy in December, and plans for a wedding with the
father, Levi Johnston, were scrapped.


      "She's the poster child for what you do when you get pregnant
now," Morgan said.


      Teen women tend to follow what their older sisters do, so
perhaps it's not surprising that teen births are going up just like
births to older women, said Sarah Brown, the chief executive for
the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.


      Indeed, it's harder to understand why teen births had been
declining for about 15 years before the recent uptick, she said. It
may have been due to a concentrated societal effort to reduce teen
births in the 1990s that has waned in recent years, she said.


      The statistics are based on a review of most 2007 birth
certificates by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The numbers also
showed:


      -Cesarean section deliveries continue to rise, now accounting
for almost one-third of all births. Health officials say that rate is
much higher than is medically necessary. About 34 percent of births
to black women were by C-section, more than any other racial group.
But geographically, the percentages were highest in Puerto Rico, at
49 percent, and New Jersey, at 38 percent.


      -The pre-term birth rate, for infants delivered at less than 37 weeks of pregnancy, declined slightly. It had been generally
increasing since the early 1980s. Experts said they aren't sure why it went down.


      -Among the states, Utah continued to have the highest birth rate
and Vermont the lowest.


      CDC officials noted that despite the record number of births,
this is nothing like what occurred in the 1950s, when a much
smaller population of women were having nearly four children each,
on average. That baby boom quickly transformed society, affecting
everything from school construction to consumer culture.


      Today, U.S. women are averaging 2.1 children each. That's the
highest level it's been since the early 1970s, but is a relatively
small increase from the rate it had hovered at for more than 10
years and is hardly transforming.


      "It's the tiniest of baby booms," said Morgan in agreement.
"This is not an earthquake; it's a slight tremor."
  

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More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than any year in the nation's history, topping the peak during the baby boom 50 years earlier, federal researchers reported
Wednesday.

US births break record; 40 pct out-of-wedlock

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