After four years of decline, the U.S. birthrate appears to have leveled off, according to a new government report.

The Daily Mail is reporting that newly released figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that a little less than four million babies were born in 2012, a figure that is just a few hundred less than the number born in 2011. This suggests that the U.S. birthrate may finally be leveling off after four years of plummeting rates.

“We may be on level course or potentially even see a rise in birth trends in the near future,” said Brady Hamilton, a statistician with the CDC.

Even though birth rates fell by one percent for women in their late 20’s, an age group that accounts for nearly a quarter of all U.S. births annually, the rate for women in their early 30’s rose one percent. This is the first birth rate increase for women in their early 30’s since 2007.

Women age 35 and older saw an increase of two percent in the birth rate, with a one percent increase for women in their early 40’s.

Birth rates for older women has been on the rise in recent years, despite overall downward trend since the economic crisis began in 2008. Experts believe this may be due to older women being more financially secure and more eager to have children as their childbearing years wane.

On the downside, the most significant number in the report concerns the rate of births among teens. Only 305,000 babies were born to teenage mothers last year, a record low. This figures is less than half of the peak of nearly 645,000 in 1970.

Experts are attributing this decline in teen births to a variety of factors, including increase use of contraception and declining rates of sexual activity among youth.

The U.S. birthrate had been rising steadily since the late 1990’s, hitting an all-time high of 4.3 million in 2007, until the bottom fell out of the economy and the rates began to drop.

While some experts are optimistic, others remind that the birth rate is still in decline.

Carol Hogue, an Emory University expert on birth trends told the Daily Mail: “The decline has slowed down, but it’s still a decline.”

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