U.S. Birth Rate Continues To Decline, A Sign Of Down Economy

The birth rate continued to drop last year in the United States, according to new data from the Pew Research Center, and experts are linking it to a down economy.

The birth rate began declining in 2008, following a year of record high births in 2007, according to the Pew report. In 2007, there were 4,316,233 births and 69.6 babies born for every 1,000 childbearing-age woman; in 2010, there were just 4,007,000 births, and 64.7 births per 1,000 women.

"It's almost certainly due to a lack of confidence in the economy," demographer Carl Haub, of the Population Reference Bureau, told CNN.

Kids are expensive because of the money it takes to feed, clothe and care for them, he told CNN. However, Haub said it's not that kids aren't desirable to us anymore; rather we are waiting until we can afford them.

The Pew report also shows that states with the highest levels of unemployment had the biggest decreases in birth rate. And the state with the lowest unemployment rate -- North Dakota -- was the single state that actually had an increase in birth rate (though by just 0.7 percent), Politico reported.

For the full Pew report, click here.

Comments

[Kenz300]

10:25 AM on 10/19/2011

If you can not provide a loving home and financial security for a child do not have one.

Bringing a child into the world carries with it responsibility to care for the child.

Too many people do not take that responsibility seriously.

[jenbenq8]

01:20 AM on 10/18/2011

I believe that more and more people in general are just not having as many kids or not wanting to have kids at all. Times are changing.

[Jolimont]

03:58 PM on 10/17/2011

Could someone give Utahns that message? They are still breeding like rabbits.

[rog1112]

12:41 PM on 10/17/2011

Has anyone tried correlating this to sunspot activity? See what happens in 9 months:

http://obs.astro.ucla.edu/cur_int_na1.html

Yup, they're lining up...

[Kenz300]

12:13 PM on 10/17/2011

The world added a billion people in the last 12 years and will add another billion people in the next 12 years. We have a food crisis, a water crisis, an oil crisis, a financial crisis, an immigration crisis, a jobs crisis and an over population crisis. We could not solve the worlds problems of poverty, hunger and despair when the world had 5 billion people and adequate resources. We will not be able to solve those problems in a world of 9 billion people and limited resources.

[Ken Koziol]

07:34 AM on 10/17/2011

Does this apply to all races or just the white one.

[sabelmouse]

06:52 AM on 10/17/2011

great news. as americans use the resources of 3 planets this is the only way to save it.

[Matthew Vella]

06:24 AM on 10/17/2011

Haven't anyone of you ever studied geography? The more developed a country is, the lower the birth rate. America's economy is obviously in a bad place, but in all developed countries at one point the birth rate begins to decline, its not usually a sign of a bad economy.

[rforeverfree]

06:19 AM on 10/17/2011

There are still 'elements' in our society that use live births as an income source. Cradle to grave welfare.

[ddokken69]

04:24 AM on 10/17/2011

Maybe its just me but has anyone noticed that everything is going up with the exception of people's paychecks???????????? HMMM?????

[farmilyman]

12:02 AM on 10/17/2011

High pesticide use reduces the number of abortions.........see it all works out.

[CherMoe]

12:18 AM on 10/17/2011

Increases the number of birth defects and cancer.

[angelshalo321]

10:34 PM on 10/16/2011

AMERICA IS ON THE WAY OF BECOMING A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY LIKE MEXICO.. OUR POLITICIANS ARE BOUGHT BY CORPORATIONS. THINGS ARE GOING TO GET WORSE --NOT BETTER.

[angelshalo321]

10:32 PM on 10/16/2011

WHO WANTS KIDS IN A LOUSY ECONOMY ?? NO JOBS--LAY OFFS---NOT KNOWING IF YOU ARE NEXT TO LOSE YOUR JOB?? WHO WANTS KIDS NOW ...YOU CAN GO BROKE BUYING DIAPERS LOL..

[mountaindelivery]

11:49 PM on 10/16/2011

People who are not full of themselves.

[Kelly Jade]

10:25 AM on 10/17/2011

So someone wanting an ounce of security before taking on the huge task of raising someone who is completely dependant upon them for everyhing knowing that if the parents fail then they take the kid with them is full of themselves?

Wow.

[CherMoe]

12:18 AM on 10/17/2011

You think the price of diapers is bad? Check out the price of baby FORMULA. You need to rob a bank to feed a baby.

[Jessica Mullens]

02:18 AM on 10/18/2011

Not if you breast feed.

[OWSoros]

10:02 PM on 10/16/2011

"We are waiting until we can afford kids" -
WOW What a crazee concept, it's so far out there doubt it'll ever catch on.

[CherMoe]

12:20 AM on 10/17/2011

That's the Republican way of "culling the herd". Nobody except themselves can afford medical care, food and to continue reproducing.

[dknowles60]

09:35 PM on 10/16/2011

here here