Well, the experts have spoken, and it looks like America’s baby bust is over. A new United States Fertility Forecast was released by Demographic Intelligence, and it looks pretty promising. “The United States has seen marked declines in childbearing in the wake of the Great Recession, but we think that this fertility decline is now over,” says Sam Sturgeon, president of Demographic Intelligence, a demographic forecasting firm based in Charlottesville, Va.” Claim Your 20 Free Pregnancy Tests – Click Here
As the economy rebounds and women have the children they postponed immediately after the Great Recession, we are seeing an uptick in U.S. fertility.” How exciting is this news! For comparison, the birth rate back in 2007, was 2.12 children per woman in the USA.
The United States fertility rate reached a 25 year low in 2012, the average being a mere 1.89 children per woman in the US. The rate for 2013 has not been much better, with the average being 1.90 children per woman in the US.
However, the new fertility forecasts indicate that things might be looking up soon, and that the fertility rate is expected to rise. Experts think that since people are beginning to feel better about their jobs and the economy is slowly improving, that we will see an increase in birth rates as well.
This is welcome news, as more and more couples have been delaying having children due to financial hardships, uncertainty about jobs, and too much debt. Some women are choosing to wait longer to have children, and they are worried about how having children might hurt their careers. Advancing maternal age and fertility do not go hand in hand.
The increase in the birth rate from 2012 to 2013 is slight, but it is a step in the right direction, and experts agree that it is a good indication that things might be getting better. While a study released last year by the US Department of Agriculture found that it would cost, on average, around $235,000 for a middle class couple to raise a child, and that’s without including college, it seems like more and more couples may be willing to take the leap!
It will definitely be interesting to watch the fertility rate as the economy continues to improve, and we can see if the two rates continue to mirror each other. Historically, when the economy is down, so is the birth rate, and once it starts to improve, the birth rate will improve as well. We will be watching this closely to see how it develops over the next few months of 2013.
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