A recent column on the Magnolia Tribune website lamented the continuing decline in the American birth rate, along with the apparent unwillingness of too many young people to commit their attention, time and money to relationships and parenthood.
The column by Kimberly Ross said the country’s birth rate, or fertility rate, is only 1.6 children per woman. This is literally half of what it was during the Baby Boom years after World War II all the way to 1964, when women had more than 3 babies on average.
The birth rate is a sign of what lies ahead for the country. The population cannot grow without a birth rate of 2.1 or higher — unless immigration makes up the difference. Ultimately, a lower birth rate means a smaller population, which affects a country’s economy.
“The solution is easy: have more babies,” Ross wrote. “But everyone already knows that. The real questions? Why are we at this point in the first place? And how do we shake off the complacency and disinterest that have enveloped the younger generations?”
It’s true that more of today’s primary potential parents, in their 20s and 30s, appear less interested in having children. But in fairness, the birth rate has been below that 2.1 “replacement rate” since 1972. It seems likely that cultural elements of that era, like birth control and an increase in divorces, helped bring down the birth rate in the 1970s and 1980s.
The birth rate was slightly above 2.0 for most of the 1990s and 2000s, but only hit the desired 2.1 in two years. It was the Great Recession in 2009 that knocked the figure lower, and it has not recovered from that hit.
We can talk about other factors in the declining birth rate. Ross mentions young adult men “in a state of crisis.” It also may be that more women are choosing to have fewer children. But if you get right down to it, the Great Recession exposed another problem: Raising children has become awfully expensive.
Being a good parent requires a lifetime of commitment. But it also requires a ton of money, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise if more people are looking at their finances and thinking they only can afford one or two kids. Or none at all.
Decades of global data tells us that as a nation’s economy develops, its birth rate inevitably declines. America is no different. So the question to ask is, If we want to encourage people to have more children, what can we do to make it worth their while?
