Moms in America are smarter than ever as the economic recession sparks a drop in birthrates among less educated women

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: 16:05 EST, 11 May 2013 | Updated: 16:09 EST, 11 May 2013

New mothers in America are more likely to have completed college than ever before.

Women having children are more educated, a trend likely due to the economic recession which has caused a decline in the birthrate among women with less education, according to a Pew Research Center report released on Friday.

In 2011, more than six in ten new mothers were college educated, as compared to less than 20 per cent of mothers who had any higher education in 1960.

Smarter, better, faster, stronger: Women in the U.S. with infants are more educated today than ever before

The study, Record Share of New Mothers Are College Educated by Gretchen Livingston and D’Vera Cohn, reported that women with less education are not having as many children given the harsh economic times that has a more severe impact of those with lower education levels.

Women with higher levels of education have been less impacted by the financial strain and thus their birthrate has not been so significantly impacted.

The most recent data, from 2011, shows that 66 per cent of new mothers had some college, meaning they attended or had graduated from an institution of higher learning.

Thirty-four per cent of new mothers in 2011 only had a high school diploma.

Maternal: Women with higher levels of education have been less impacted by the financial strain and thus their birthrate has not been so significantly impacted (stock photo)

Trend: Since Hillary Clinton, who had J.D. from Yale, became first lady in 1993, every presidential spouse since has also had a graduate degree (Laura Bush, center and Michelle Obama, left)

'This short-term trend may be due to the fact that younger, less educated women have been particularly hard hit by the recession, and thus have delayed childbearing. Or, it may be the case that younger women know that they have the time to ‘make-up’ childbearing when their prospects improve in the future, while the typical 40-year-old does not have that opportunity,' the authors of the study said.

A new mother was defined as a women aged 15 to 44 who has given birth in the past 12 months.

That rate was compared to data from over 50 years ago, in 1960.

The percentages were nearly inversed, with only 18 per cent of new mothers in 1960 having any college education.

Of women giving birth that year, 82 per cent had only a high school diploma.

The birthrate in the U.S. has consistently been declining as more women are educated and entering the workforce.

Age matters: The highest education levels are found among mothers over the age of 24

Unmarried: A large percentage of unwed mother did not have high education levels

Across their lifetimes, less educated women are still reported as having a higher number of births (2.5 children) than their more educated counterparts (1.7 children).

The authors of the report concluded that the 2011 data comes as a positive trend for children as there is a strong link between a child's well being and a mother's educational level.

A pregnant woman with a high level of education is more likely to carry her child to full term and is more likely to deliver a baby at a healthy weight.

In child rearing, educated mothers are also more likely to help their young ones attain higher academic achievements.