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Anti-baby boom: Why U.S. birth rate keeps falling
CNN ^ | August 16, 2011 | Jessica Dickler

Posted on 08/28/2011 2:32:58 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Right before the recession hit, the U.S. was undergoing a mini baby boom. Now, birth rates are declining fast.

The number of children born in the U.S. peaked with a record 4.3 million births in 2007, but has since fallen, dropping to 4 million births last year, according to estimates by the National Center for Health Statistics. The birth rate -- a measure of births per 1,000 people -- has dropped 10%.

Historically, declines in birth rates have gone hand in hand with economic downturns. During the financial slumps of the early 1990's and 1970's, the birth rates fell 15% and 18%, respectively. In the midst of the Great Depression, the birth rate was down by 17%.

Meanwhile, the cost of raising a child has risen steadily since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began tracking the data in 1960. From buying car seats and strollers to paying for childcare and schooling, a middle-income family could spend an average of $226,920 to raise a child born in 2010 to age 18 (and that doesn't include overwhelming cost of college), according to the USDA.

The escalating cost, coupled with the most recent economic downturn, has caused many women to postpone or even forgo their plans to have children, said Steven Martin, a senior research associate for the Institute of Human Development and Social Change at New York University. "Certainly economic calamity does cause a significant decline in fertility," he said.

In fact, nearly half, or 43%, of women said they would wait to start or expand their family until they felt financially stable, according to a recent survey by BabyCenter.com, an online parenting resource.

(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: birthrate; contraception; demographics; populationcontrol
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To: MinorityRepublican

Seems related to the economy. I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer that people not have children they can’t afford.


61 posted on 08/28/2011 7:54:49 PM PDT by Wolfie
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To: MinorityRepublican
Let's lay this at the foot of radical feminism.

Of four reasons: abortion, the Pill, career-obsessed women and costs, how many are linked directly to the radical feminist movement?

No doubt men are turned off out of fear of uncertainty in the marriage institution these days and concerned over future involvement with or even access to their own children.

62 posted on 08/28/2011 8:08:15 PM PDT by newzjunkey
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To: Windflier

I’m not all that plus a real-meat cheezburger ... just fortunate, in some areas, and very determined!


63 posted on 08/29/2011 3:10:18 AM PDT by Tax-chick ("True education is not an adjustment to the world, but a defense against the world.")
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To: kiki04

Thank you.


64 posted on 08/29/2011 3:11:11 AM PDT by Tax-chick ("True education is not an adjustment to the world, but a defense against the world.")
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To: aNYCguy

Wrong. Once again, you are missing the point. Let me be very clear.

Do you think the poster’s comment that you responded to was meant to be literal, that the only people having babies were young single mother’s and illegals?

Of course not.

So if the poster was not being literal, what was the implied point?

The point was as I explained it, that whites in America are on the fast-track to becoming a minority, because the current minorities are far out-pacing whites in their increasing numbers (both through higher birth-rates and through immigration).

That was my first point, not taking the words literally but reading between the lines.

My second point was to point out something I don’t understand, the apparent need of some posters on this board to insult the intelligence of other posters. Aren’t we all supposed to be on the same team? If so, rather than insulting, let’s just clarify what the point is that another is making and then, if it is not backed by the evidence we have gleaned in our studies, provide the alternative view or another set of information.


65 posted on 08/29/2011 4:42:36 AM PDT by Ghost of Philip Marlowe (Prepare for survival.)
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To: Tax-chick
Right now only my husband, some FReepers, and an array of Spanish-speaking women know.

Exciting! God be with you!

66 posted on 08/29/2011 7:42:13 AM PDT by Albion Wilde (To ACLU & its plaintiffs: Stop dragging the public into your personal struggle w/ God. -Mark Baisley)
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To: Albion Wilde

Thank you. It’s getting pretty obvious at this point, so it’s a good thing I plan to go public shortly ;-).


67 posted on 08/29/2011 7:55:51 AM PDT by Tax-chick ("True education is not an adjustment to the world, but a defense against the world.")
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