Utah’s total fertility rate declined from 1.919 to 1.853 in 2022 but remains 4th highest in the nation
U.S. and Utah fertility rates continued a multi-year decline in 2022. A new fact sheet released today by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute shows that the U.S. Total Fertility Rate (TFR) declined from 1.664 in 2021 to 1.656 in 2022, a 0.5% decline. Utah’s rate, which has declined or stayed constant for 14 years, declined from 1.919 in 2021 to 1.853 in 2022.
“Utah’s Total Fertility Rate declined by 3.4% between 2021 and 2022, consistent with the state’s overall decline since 2012,” said Emily Harris, senior demographer at the Gardner Institute. “Economic factors such as housing and childcare costs and broader social factors like postponement of marriage and childbearing all influence fertility rate declines.”
Key findings from the summary include the following:
Utah’s Total Fertility Rate – Utah’s TFR of 1.853 ranked 4th in the nation in 2022, behind South Dakota, Nebraska, and Alaska; the District of Columbia, Vermont, and Oregon ranked lowest. Between 2021 and 2022, Utah’s TFR declined by 3.4%.
Utah’s Age-Specific Fertility Rates – Utah’s 2022 TFR decline was largely driven by fertility declines in 20–24-year-old women. This was the sharpest fertility decline for 20–24-year-olds since before 2010. However, all buttwo age groups experienced a fertility decline; 40-44-year-oldwomen experienced a slight increase, while 35-39-year-oldwomen experienced no change.
U.S. Total Fertility Rate – In this most recent data release from the CDC, over half of states and the District of Columbia experienced TFR declines between 2021 and 2022. Only five states saw a TFR increase of over 1%, with the remaining states experiencing very little change in their TFR. Many of the Intermountain West states continue their trends of sharply declining fertility rates compared to other regions in the nation.
