Pandemic baby bust: Births drop by fastest rate in 50 years
By Reid Wilson - 06/23/21 09:40 AM EDT
The number of American women who gave birth last year fell precipitously over 2019, as provisional government data shows a national baby bust getting worse during the coronavirus pandemic.
A new report from the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found births in the United States declined 4 percent between 2019 and 2020, the steepest annual decline since 1973.
But there is evidence that even before the pandemic struck, birth rates were on pace for a steep decline: Birth rates dropped in every month of 2020, compared to 2019 — including in January, before the pandemic struck, and in the early months of a pandemic, well after parents would have chosen to conceive.
Most of the largest declines in birth rates, however, came in December, November and October, about nine months after the pandemic began and a sign that the crisis may have delayed some parents’ decisions to have children.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/559781-pandemic-baby-bust-births-drop-by-fastest-rate-in-50-years
