US Births Up For First Time In 5 Years

NEW YORK (AP) — A new report from the Centers Disease Control and Prevention says there was a slight increase in the number of babies born in 2013. That reverses a five-year trend.

Report author, Brady Hamilton, says there were 4,700 more children born in 2013 than in the year before. He calls the increase, "very, very, very slight."

There had been a steady decline in births from 2007 through 2012. Experts had blamed that mainly on the nation's economy, which was in recession from 2007 to 2009 and was shaky for at least two years after that.

Experts have said they believe many couples had money problems and felt they couldn't afford to start or add to their family during this period. But now the economy has picked up and so has child-bearing — at least in women ages 30 and older.

Experts say the teen birth rate dropped sharply once again last year, and birth rates still fell for women in in their 20s.

The total number of children born in this country was just under 4 million.