US Birth Rate Falls Another Four Percent To Lowest Level In ‘Nearly A Century’

The United States birth rate fell another 4% in 2020 despite expectations that the U.S. would see a “baby boom” as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and associated lockdowns. The rate is now at the “lowest point since federal health officials started tracking it more than a century ago,” according to the Associated Press.

“The U.S. birth rate fell 4% last year, the largest single-year decrease in nearly 50 years, according to a government report being released Wednesday,” the AP reported. ‘The rate dropped for moms of every major race and ethnicity, and in nearly every age group, falling to the lowest point since federal health officials started tracking it more than a century ago.”

“About 3.6 million babies were born in the U.S. last year, down from about 3.75 million in 2019,” the AP noted. “When births were booming in 2007, the U.S. recorded 4.3 million births.”

The drop is alarming, as it puts the U.S. at the lowest birth rate since the end of the “baby boom” that followed World War II. “The U.S. birth rate dropped to about 56 births per 1,000 women of child-bearing age, the lowest rate on record. The rate is half of what it was in the early 1960s.”