The U.S. birth rate has declined for the second year running and experts believe the recession is to blame. The 2009 rate was the lowest in a century and may affect the caregiver resources.
Although the overall population is increasing, last year births decreased by a little less than 3 percent according to figures from The National Health Center for Health Statistics.
“It could take a few years to turn this around,” Andrew Cherlin, a sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University, told The Washington Post. He noted that the birth rate continued to remain low during the 1930s era Great Depression. Cherlin also mentioned that a substantial, long-term birth rate decrease would mean less young people who would be able to care for the aging population.
However, Cherlin adds, there’s no need to fret just yet; the U.S. birth rate “is still higher than the birth rate in many wealthy countries and we also have many immigrants entering the country. So we do not need to be worried yet about a birth dearth,” or inadequacy, he said.
Read The Washington Post article, “Recession may have pushed US birth rate to new low,”
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