U.S. Birthrate Declines to Lowest in Its History
The number of babies born in the US dropped to 13.5 births for every 1,000 people in 2009 from 13.9 births in 2008 and 14.3 births in 2007, the report showed.
Andrew Cherlin, a sociology professor at John Hopkins University was quoted as saying that the decline in birth rate was not surprising given the sorry state of the US economy.
"The birth rate is falling because of the Great Recession. When people are unsure of their financial future, they tend to postpone having children,” Cherlin told CNN, adding that, “it's stronger now than in the last couple of recessions because this is a stronger recession.”
The number of babies born in the US fell to 4,136,000 in 2009 from 4,247,000 in 2008, the report showed.
The birth rate in US was 55.2 per 1,000 population in 1820, which is the earliest year for which statistics are available.
The U.S. birth rate has been sliding since 2007 coinciding with the economic downturn, said Cherlin, adding that it will go up when people feel secure again.
He said some of the women who have put off their plans to have children will have them later.
Cherlin predicts the US may see the same percentage levels it touched during the Great Depression in the 1930s when nearly 20 percent of women never had children.
"I think it's likely to be a few years before this turns around," he said.
During the Depression, the birth rate in US fell to a low of 18.4 in 1936, but returned to the level of 1926 after World War II. The birth rate had peaked at 16.7 in 1990 and it has been steadily declining since then.