The number of babies born in the U.S. dropped by 4% in 2020 compared to the previous year, according to a new federal report …
The number of babies born in the U.S. dropped by 4% in 2020 compared to the previous year, according to a new federal report released on Wednesday. The general fertility rate was 55.8 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, reaching yet another record low, according to the provisional data. « This is the sixth consecutive year that the number of births has declined after an increase in 2014, down an average of 2% per year, and the lowest number of births since 1979, » the National Center for Health Statistics said. The U.S. total fertility rate, which estimates how many babies a hypothetical group of 1,000 women would have during their life based on data from a given year, remains far « below replacement » – meaning there wouldn’t be enough babies born for a generation to exactly replace itself. « The rate has generally been below replacement since 1971 and has consistently been below replacement since 2007, » according to the agency, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The statistical replacement rate is 2,100 births per 1,000 women.
