- Oct 17, 2011
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The number of babies born in the United States fell by 2 percent in 2023, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The drop signals a return to the downward trend in birthrates seen before the pandemic, with numbers hitting historic lows.
The decline follows relative stability in the birthrate from 2021 to 2022 after a modest 1 percent rise from 2020 to 2021, when the coronavirus pandemic raged.
Hamilton also noted that the data show the fourth consecutive increase in the yearly rate of caesarean deliveries since 2020. [to 32.4%] That is a worrying trend because of the high risk of complications associated with caesarean versus vaginal births.
Julia Strasser, director of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health and an assistant research professor of health policy and management at George Washington University, said that although experts have not pinpointed a single cause for this decline, factors such as student loan debt, high housing costs and economic uncertainty are thought to influence younger generations’ decisions to delay or forgo having children.
Strasser added that recent court rulings on birth control, fertility treatments and women’s reproductive health also could have an effect on birthrates.
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From the CDC link, the total fertility rate was 1.62 births per woman. Replacement rate would be a little over 2 per woman.
The decline follows relative stability in the birthrate from 2021 to 2022 after a modest 1 percent rise from 2020 to 2021, when the coronavirus pandemic raged.
Hamilton also noted that the data show the fourth consecutive increase in the yearly rate of caesarean deliveries since 2020. [to 32.4%] That is a worrying trend because of the high risk of complications associated with caesarean versus vaginal births.
Julia Strasser, director of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health and an assistant research professor of health policy and management at George Washington University, said that although experts have not pinpointed a single cause for this decline, factors such as student loan debt, high housing costs and economic uncertainty are thought to influence younger generations’ decisions to delay or forgo having children.
Strasser added that recent court rulings on birth control, fertility treatments and women’s reproductive health also could have an effect on birthrates.
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From the CDC link, the total fertility rate was 1.62 births per woman. Replacement rate would be a little over 2 per woman.