U.S. Birth Rate Drops To New Low After Pandemic 'Baby Bump'

U. S. fertility rates in 2023 reached the lowest levels since records began, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday, returning to a longstanding trend of Americans having fewer babies after a temporary uplift during the Covid-19 pandemic as concerns grow over reproductive healthcare. The U. S.’ fertility rate for 2023 is well below a threshold demographers call the replacement rate. This is the fertility rate needed for the current generation to replace itself, rather than grow or shrink. The CDC puts this threshold at 2,100 births per 1,000 women. The U. S. has “generally been below replacement since 1971 and consistently below replacement since 2007,” the report said. While U. S. birth rates have been in broad decline for decades, this continued decline comes at a time of growing concern over access to reproductive healthcare and intensely politicized debate over abortion access, as well as concerns over the economy, a lack of rights for working parents and growing fears over the future of the planet. The U. S. is not alone in experiencing demographic change and changing birth rates are set to drive major global shifts in power over coming decades. The continued failure to meet replacement rate thresholds around the world is of growing concern to many policymakers, scientists and officials. Many countries like China and Japan have been trying to encourage people to have more kids and a birth rate below the replacement rate signals major demographic shifts on the horizon. In particular, it portends sluggish growth, an aging population and an economy that one day may struggle to find enough workers to fill jobs and pay the taxes required to maintain the state and care for a large elderly population, whose health and other needs often require far more expenditure per capita than younger people.
All data is taken from the source: forbes.com
Article Link: www.forbes.com/sites/robertha...
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