Birth rates are at their lowest point in U.S. history

Birth rates continue to plummet in the U.S. according to a population estimate released by the U.S. Census Bureau on June 26.

Birth rates continue to plummet in the U.S. according to a population estimate released by the U.S. Census Bureau on June 26.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - For the second year in a row, deaths of non-Hispanic whites outnumbered births, starting from the first of July, 2012, to that same date in 2013.

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"These are the only two years in U.S. history when more non-Hispanic whites died than were born," said Kenneth Johnson, a senior demographer at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute.

He noted that there have been decreasing births for some time but "the decline since the onset of the Great Recession has been precipitous."

The Census Bureau estimates that there were just 2 million non-Hispanic white births during that time compared to the 2.3 million which occurred during the economic boom of 2006-07, a 13% drop in just six years.

The economic downturn has also caused a lack of Hispanic births, as economic woes keep job access limited and slowed immigration.

"For the second strait year, Asians lead Hispanic in immigration," said William Frey, a demographer and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "The Hispanic declines in both immigration and births are largely due to the recession and its aftermath."

The birth rate amongst Hispanics dropped from 2.84 in 2007 to 2.12 in 2012, even as the number of Hispanic women of childbearing age grew by 16% in that time.

"It's a continuation of the trend," said Cheryl Russell, editorial director of New Strategist Press, a publisher of demographic reference tools. "The baby bust has taken everyone by surprise, including the people who made population projections for the Census Bureau a few years ago.

"The fertility rate is at an all-time low among young women under 30," she continued. "These young people are financially squeezed, and they have simply stopped having children. Never have young women had so few children in the history of the U.S."

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