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U.S. Fertility Rate Falls for Fourth Consecutive Year in 2018, Reaching Record Low
national review ^ | November 27, 2019 | Zachary Evans

Posted on 11/27/2019 9:20:12 PM PST by Mount Athos

The U.S. fertility rate declined in 2018 for the fourth consecutive year, reaching a record low 59.1 births for every 1,000 women able to bear children, the National Center for Health Statistics announced on Wednesday.

The fertility rate has been on the decline since the 2008 recession, with a slight rebound in 2014. Typically, economic crises lead to a decline in fertility rates, but the current decline has not reversed even as the economy has recovered.

“It is hard for me to believe that the birthrate just keeps going down,” University of New Hampshire demographer Kenneth Johnson told to the New York Times.

“The data suggest that people want to establish themselves before having children,” Alison Gemmill, a demographer at Johns Hopkins University, told the Times. “They also want to make sure they have adequate resources to raise quality children.”

The median age at which women give birth has increased continuously over the past several decades. William Frey, a senior demographer at the Brookings Institution, said the median childbearing age in the 1970’s was 21 for women and 23 for men, while data from the Census Bureau show that the median childbearing age in 2018 was 28 for women and 30 for men. The number of women giving birth under the age of 35 has also steadily declined, with more women giving birth in their 30’s and 40’s.

19 The annual rate of births per woman, which for 2018 was 59.1/1000 is known as the general fertility rate. A different metric, the total fertility rate, measures the likely number of children the average woman will have during her lifetime, if current fertility patterns hold.

For 2018 the TFR stood at 1.73, according to a Pew study released in May. This means that women are having fewer than two children on average, below replacement level for the general population.


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Other countries are even worse, like japan and korea. Some countries like Russia and France are much worse than the stats show because it would be much lower without major muslim population with higher birth rate. Situation bad all over europe especially spain greece etc
1 posted on 11/27/2019 9:20:12 PM PST by Mount Athos
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To: Mount Athos

Men can have babies now, so that should take up some of the slack.


2 posted on 11/27/2019 9:22:51 PM PST by Mr Ramsbotham ("God is a spirit, and man His means of walking on the earth.")
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To: Mount Athos

Some of the most impassioned pushback I get from FReepers are in response to my articles critiquing artificial contraception. So it’s the mentalities of both the right and the left contributing to the current predicament.


3 posted on 11/27/2019 9:28:42 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: Mount Athos

Only problem, the 3Ms are having plenty of babies


4 posted on 11/27/2019 9:31:29 PM PST by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: Mount Athos

Didn’t Obama appoint someone population control nut over something? Someone who had written a book or paper in which he proposed chemically causing lower fertility? Maybe I’m confusing myself. Maybe it was a sci-fi novel.


5 posted on 11/27/2019 9:31:56 PM PST by petitfour (APPEAL TO HEAVEN)
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To: Mr Ramsbotham

Unless they’re on strike due to lack of tampons in the men’s room.


6 posted on 11/27/2019 9:45:25 PM PST by GnuThere
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To: Mount Athos

DOH! Destroy the traditional family, abort millions of babies so people can be free of the consequences of mindless sex, and indoctrinate young people to consider relationships nothing but temporary “hook ups”. This is the result. Liberals work ruthlessly to dismantle society, then report the problems they created like they appeared out of no where.

So it goes with the environment, the homeless, etc.


7 posted on 11/27/2019 9:53:44 PM PST by bluejean (I'm becoming a cranky old person. It really annoys me.)
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To: bluejean
DOH! Destroy the traditional family, abort millions of babies so people can be free of the consequences of mindless sex, and indoctrinate young people to consider relationships nothing but temporary “hook ups”. This is the result. Liberals work ruthlessly to dismantle society, then report the problems they created like they appeared out of no where. So it goes with the environment, the homeless, etc.

Wow thank you. Well put!

8 posted on 11/27/2019 9:57:48 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: Mount Athos

Who cares ? More or less people makes No difference


9 posted on 11/27/2019 10:04:45 PM PST by Truthoverpower (The guvmint you get is the Trump winning express !)
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To: Mr Ramsbotham

>>>Men can have babies now, so that should take up some of the slack.<<<

I did hear that men can have periods too. How come nobody told me this stuff in health class?


10 posted on 11/27/2019 10:08:30 PM PST by BJ1
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To: Mr Ramsbotham

don’t ya know that men are too busy having periods to have babies According to the left?-


11 posted on 11/27/2019 10:58:07 PM PST by Bob434
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To: BJ1

because back then people were sane and weren’t anti-science


12 posted on 11/27/2019 10:59:33 PM PST by Bob434
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To: Mount Athos

DO NOT PANIC.

As long as there’s free stuff from government, certain people will always reproduce.

Just check your local Wal-Mart!


13 posted on 11/27/2019 11:26:46 PM PST by golux
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To: Mount Athos
"59.1 births for every 1,000 women able to bear children"

Really able or only in the age range? Consider the rapidly spreading drug paradigm, promiscuity, etc. There are many young women who are not able because of diseases and surgeries.

14 posted on 11/28/2019 1:01:30 AM PST by familyop ("Welcome to Costco. I love you." - -Costco greeter in the movie, "Idiocracy")
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To: Mount Athos

Seems to me that it’s the birth rate that has declined.

The fertility rate is probably just as high as ever.

The birth rate is lower due to birth control and abortions.


15 posted on 11/28/2019 2:08:45 AM PST by octex
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To: octex

While those are the direct causes, it is economic insecurity at its root that causes this. Nobody is entitled to employment for life, but when people had a reasonable expectation that they could find work if they played the game right, they’d breed.

This is the most visible impact of open borders combined with H-1B visa scams; in western Europe they call it The Great Replacement.


16 posted on 11/28/2019 2:31:44 AM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: Mount Athos

“It is hard for me to believe that the birthrate just keeps going down,” University of New Hampshire demographer Kenneth Johnson told to the New York Times. “The data suggest that people want to establish themselves before having children,” Alison Gemmill, a demographer at Johns Hopkins University, told the Times. “They also want to make sure they have adequate resources to raise quality children.”

This is the inevitable result of the lowering of our standard of living; any jobs that can be sent overseas disappear, while those that can’t have the workers brought here. When it is admitted that much of the job growth has gone to foreigners in the US, then why would the birthrate increase for Americans?


17 posted on 11/28/2019 2:34:10 AM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

It is contraception. It was well predicted in well respected philosophical publications in the 1960s

This is something the right, the left, as well as the vast majority of most people who call themselves religious will continue to deny. A perfect tool of destruction.


18 posted on 11/28/2019 2:54:17 AM PST by stanne
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To: petitfour

Obama!! Try Merck, Eli Lilly.


19 posted on 11/28/2019 2:55:20 AM PST by stanne
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To: stanne

I believe contraception is the tool, but to see so many opting out of parenthood clearly indicates there are other underlying problems. Pope Benedict XVI was right that selfishness plays a role, but I sympathize with those who see no clear way to providing for a family. I wish they would breed, but my wishes won’t provide for them.

Economic instability and a legal atmosphere that makes marriage a risky venture also play key roles here.


20 posted on 11/28/2019 3:06:21 AM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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