Staying home the last year for the pandemic restrictions did NOT result in more women getting pregnant …
Remember….
Bad economy should not support having more children for most people…
Less immigration would also keep numbers lower one would suspect….
The birthrate fell across races and ethnicity and almost all age groups. For years, American women have increasingly postponed having children and had fewer when they do. That led to declining births among young women and increasing rates among women in their late 30s and 40s. But in 2020, even older moms saw declines in births.
While some jokingly predicted a baby boom when the pandemic first struck — as couples were stuck at home in isolation — many experts suggested the reverse might happen as anxiety and the disruption in jobs and society caused Americans to postpone or think twice about having a child amid the chaos…
On immigration and the American population….
There are ways that policymakers can turn the situation around — the Biden administration has advocated for family-friendly policies that could make it easier for Americans to have more children. But that will not be enough to overcome a widening gap in the number of working-age adults that are able to support an aging population of baby boomers.
That leaves immigration, which has historically insulated the US from population decline and represents a kind of tap that the US can turn on and off. Over the next decade, it is set to become the primary driver of population growth for the first time in US history. The question now is exactly how much more immigration might be needed to accelerate population growth — and whether US policymakers can actually overcome their political differences on the issue to make it an effective tool…
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