American women are having fewer babies than they have in the past 30 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday in its yearly report on U.S. birth rates.
The provisional report, based on an analysis of over 99% of the 3.85 million birth certificates filed last year, said that the total was “down 2 percent from 2016 and the lowest number in 30 years.” And the fertility rate sank to 60 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 – a 3% drop from last year.
What these numbers mean for the U.S. population is that the country won’t be able to achieve a “viable replacement rate” — the standard for any given generation to replicate its total. The rate is calculated by the CDC by estimating how many children a hypothetical group of 1,000 women have over the course of their lives. Currently, the rate is about 1,765 for every 1,000. The replacement rate is 2,100 per 1,000.
“The rate has generally been below replacement since 1971,” the report said…..
This is good news and it would actually be healthy for Mother Earth if the birth rate were to fall in all countries.
Some people would not agree with your view Z….
Smaller work force coming
Didn’t we discuss this topic a few years ago?
This has been true of many Western European countries for several recent decades.
The obvious counterbalance, at least from the West’s selfish perspective, is immigration, which could be a net good, and possible way to fill empty houses, empty towns, shrinking schools, unfilled jobs and depleting pension funds.
As the average age of the population born in Europe or the U.S. increases, with the proportion of working-age adults declining, an ideal immigration pattern would not only help fund social insurance, but provide a source of teachers of the young and care-givers for the old or infirm.
But the problem lies as always lies in the details. Despite the many wonders of the supposèdly self-adjusting market in fitting supply to demand, the actual composition of both in the real world often does not match at all well.
I believe that the recent immigrat populations DO produce more kids though
The planet cannot really support long term the population that it has now. That is why the planet is getting warmer, vegetation is rapidly being replaced by concrete, and our oceans are filling with plastic.
So isn’t it selfish for us to be instead be thinking about caregivers and children to pay fir our pensions?
The planet CAN support it’s population…
The problem is pollution that is changing it’s atmosphere ….
There are vast regions that could and will be in the future used to support it’s peoples…
We have become more efficient in growing and feeding ourselves and the use of solar and wind power will slow the reliance on fossil fuels….
THAT is the problem in my view….