Don’t prospective parents know that children are our future?
The Wall Street Journal reports that in 2015, the U.S. fertility rate dropped to 62.5 live births per 1,000 women aged 15-44. The rate was slightly higher in 2014 (62.9) and experts believed the rate would continue to climb.
WSJ surmises that the economic recession that started in 2007 plays a role in the lower birth rate.
Other stats show from the National Center for Health Statistics show that while the fertility rate is down, the total number of births in 2015 (just less than 4 million) roughly matches the total births seen during the years of the 1950s, the Baby Boomer era. Also, the fertility rates for younger age brackets (15-17, 18-19, 20-24, and 25-29) have steadily decreased over the last five years, while the rates for older age groups (30-34, 35-39, and 40-44) have generally risen since 2010.
