A preliminary 2008-2009 Demographic and Health Surveys report shows that Kenya’s fertility rate has decline slightly, from 4.9 births per woman in 2003 to 4.6, according to an article from the Daily Nation (Kenya).

Data from the 2008-2009 survey is not yet available.

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy has released a new survey of Latino teens and adults about teen pregnancy and related issues, Toward a Common Future.

Changing patterns of nonmarital childbearing in the United States, released Monday by the National Center for Health Statistics, reports that childbearing by unmarried women has risen, and the increase has come from women in their 20s and older. The report uses data from the Natality Data File and the National Vital Statistics System.

“Did America’s moms and dads and potential parents see the meltdown coming before the economists?” asks an AP news story. According to Census data, the rate of growth in the baby population dropped between 2007 and 2008.

The National Study of Fertility Barriers is a nationally representative telephone survey of women age 25-45. The focus of the survey is biomedical fertility barriers including subfecundity, repeated miscarriages, health conditions that preclude childbearing, and sterilization regret. The data is available to all researchers but registration is required before data is released.

For more information on the NSFB and instructions on registering to obtain access, see the NSFB SodaPop page.

The US had a record 4,317,000 births in 2007, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics (Births, Preliminary Data for 2007 [PDF]).

As reported in the New York Times, other significant data points include:

• teen births rose for the second straight year
• births to unmarried women reached a record high of 40%
• the rate of deliveries by Caesarean section continues to rise

What would it take to accelerate fertility decline in the least developed countries? (PDF) is the first in a new series of policy briefs from the United Nations Population Division.

The Policy Brief focuses on current fertility levels in the world’s least developed countries – a group of 49 countries designated as such by the United Nations General Assembly. In 31 of them, fertility rates remain above 5 children per woman.

The Policy Brief discusses fertility trends and contraceptive use in the least developed countries based on the most recent data compiled by the Population Division. The Policy Brief asserts that expansion of access to family planning requires government commitment and that strengthening and expanding family planning services require adequate funding and access to supplies. It also emphasizes that investments in family planning are cost-effective because of the strong synergistic effects of longer birth intervals and lower fertility on other development goals.

According to new federal data, the US birth rate increased, and teen births increased for the first time since 1991 (USA Today).

Citation: Martin, J.A., et al. (2008). Births: Final data for 2006. National Vital Statistics Reports, 57(7). Available online (PDF)

Though their numbers remain small, straight men are increasingly turning to surrogates to have children, as reported on CNN.com.

Preliminary datasets are now available for the 2006 Mali Demographic and Health Survey. PRI researchers may request it from the Data Archivist.