Salient to Investors:
The CDC said the US fertility rate fell to a record low in 2012, with 63.0 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 years old, and versus 69.3 in 2007. Last year, the CDC said an American woman will give birth to an average of 1.88 children over her lifetime, a record low.
The fertility rate decreased among teenagers and women in their 20s, but rose slightly among those over age 30, held steady for white women, fell among blacks and Hispanics, and rose among Asians and Pacific Islanders in 2012.
It takes 2.1 children per woman for a given generation to replace itself – the US level has been below replacement level since 2007.
Kenneth Johnson at University of New Hampshire said fewer younger people may produce a shortage of young workers to enter the labor force in 18 to 20 years. Johnson said the decline in fertility rates, which had been dramatic, is stabilizing.
The Pew Research Center said 22% of 18-to-34-year-olds surveyed in December 2011 said they had postponed having a baby because of economic conditions. Pew said in 2012, 36% of millennials ages 18 to 31 still lived at home with their parents.
Sam Sturgeon at Demographic Intelligence said the fertility decline is over and predicts the birth rate will rise in 2013 to 1.9 children per woman as the economy rebounds.
Read the full article at http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/06/news/economy/birth-rate-low/index.html
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