Birth rates in the U.S. returned to the trend of plummeting after a brief rebound during the COVID-19 era. Last year saw just under 3.6 million babies born in the country, according to numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The brief bump from 2020 to 2022 interrupted over a decade of declining U.S. fertility. The year prior to the COVID outbreak saw a 4% drop.
Part of that rise during the pandemic was credited to delayed pregnancies during the early months of the lockdowns. But experts warn that the latest figures show the country likely returned to the previous trend.
2023 had the lowest birth rate recorded in the history of our country since the US began keeping track in the 1930’s. (WSJ) pic.twitter.com/MxjD9ZpoOl
— Te𝕏asLindsay™ (@TexasLindsay_) April 25, 2024
Last year’s tally marked the lowest one-year number of births since 1979. It was also 76,000 fewer than in 2022.
The downward trajectory for births among teenagers and younger women was long established. This coincided with an increase in pregnancies for women in their 30s and 40s as more put off families to pursue education and careers.
But 2023 saw those numbers fall flat even for older women. Nicholas Mark, a University of Wisconsin researcher who specializes in the relationship between social policy and fertility, explained that “there’s some evidence that not just postponement is going on.”
Of futher note is that the birth rate dropped across virtually all racial and ethnic categories of Americans.
Some researchers speculated that the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision returning the right to restrict or ban abortions back to states would lead to an increase in births. Despite a bevy of regulations against abortion, the birth rate fell.
The lower number of births will also provide fodder for those who advocate for continuing Biden’s unrestricted illegal migration policies. They claim these migrants are needed to replenish the population.
