This decrease effectively ended the urban flight of the 1970s and resumed the decades-long trend toward increasing urbanization. Suburbs, not cities, have received most of this gain, however. Between 1980 and 1990, women 20 to 24 years old experienced the smallest increase in fertility rates. During the past decade, fertility rates for women age 35-39 have increased more than any other age group. Their fertility rate was the highest it has been since 1970.
Most women do become mothers.
In 1990, seven out of ten women aged 15 and older had given birth to at least one child. The majority of these women have had at least two children. Even so, the share of childless women has risen among those of the baby-boom generation. Although the increases in the 1980s were at a slower rate, such families now comprise one in 9 households. The proportion of families maintained by women is higher for African Americans than for any other group.