North Carolina moms are getting older

Moms in North Carolina are an average age of just over 29 when they give birth — up from 27 in 2003, according to provisional CDC data.

Why it matters: Increased access to fertility treatments and reliable birth control are helping more older moms have babies.

By the numbers: The U.S. birth rate for teenagers and women in their early 20s dropped to record lows in 2024, as the birth rate for women over 30 rose, according to CDC data released Wednesday.

• Women aged 30-34 had a higher birth rate (95.4 births per 1,000 women) than those in their late 20s (91.4).

Yes, but: "This is not a story about young women. It's a story of young people," Carolina Population Center's Karen Guzzo told Axios in an email.

• "People want to have predictable futures before they consider becoming parents, and there's a great deal of uncertainty about the future. And that's before you even factor in political polarization, climate change, wars, and so on," Guzzo said.

Reality check: Although the number of overall births rose 1% from 2023 to 2024, that's an increase from the nation's lowest fertility rate in nearly a century.

Between the lines: Since the first IVF baby was born nearly 50 years ago, we've made big breakthroughs in understanding and treating infertility — and giving people options if they choose to delay parenthood.

• Today, many hopeful parents, especially those over 35, can have babies through medical advancements that seemed like science fiction a generation ago.

The big picture: The Trump administration has been soliciting ideas about how to get more Americans to marry and have more babies.

• Some proposals include prestigious government-backed perks for people who are married or have children, cash "baby bonuses" and government funding for educating women about their menstrual cycles, per the New York Times.

• "People need to feel more economically secure now and about their futures" to have more children, Guzzo noted.
• "Addressing childcare costs and availability and having paid leave and a robust social safety net for parents would be an important first step; all those things have also been shown to improve children's health and well-being, so they are important even if they don't budge birth rates much."

What's next: Higher birthrate advocates are confident that fertility issues will become a priority for the Trump administration, though it remains unclear whether access to IVF will be affected by recent reproductive health funding cuts and legislative battles.

Read more: What parenting expert Emily Oster wants hopeful older parents to know