U.S. Birthrate Falls
The U.S. fertility rate is at record lows (The Wall Street Journal, subscription).
What’s going on: “The total fertility rate fell to 1.62 births per woman in 2023, a 2% decline from a year earlier, federal data released Thursday showed. It is the lowest rate recorded since the government began tracking it in the 1930s.”
- The data reflect a continuing trend: American women, across ethnic groups, are delaying or foregoing having children.
- In 2023, the number of U.S. births was the lowest in 44 years.
Why it’s happening: “A confluence of factors are at play. American women are having fewer children, later in life. Women are establishing fulfilling careers and have more access to contraception.”
- As a group, they are also increasingly uncertain about their futures “and spending more of their income on homeownership, student debt and child care.”
The details: From 2022 to 2023, birthrates declined more among younger women.
- “Women in their mid-to-late 30s are having children at similar rates to those in their early to mid-20s. Birthrates for women 35–39 fell to 54.7 births per 1,000 women—closer to the rates for women 20–24, which dropped 4% to 55.4 births per 1,000 women in 2023.”
- Birthrates among women in their 40s stayed the same.
Why it’s important: Fewer U.S. births could reshape the economy and “other facets of American life.”
- However, “[a]n influx of people immigrating to the U.S. could offset the impact of lower birthrates on the U.S. population’s size,” said Brady Hamilton, a co-author of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that includes the data findings. “Immigration has risen in recent years, easing labor shortages and expanding the population of big metropolitan areas.”
Read more: For a comprehensive blueprint on U.S. immigration reform, download “A Way Forward,” the NAM’s recommendations to Congress on the subject.