US birth rate falls 4% to its lowest point ever
The American birth rate fell for the sixth consecutive year in 2020, with the lowest number of babies born since 1979, according to a new report.
Some 3.6 million babies were born in the US in 2020 – marking a 4% decline from the year before, found the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics.
The slump was seen across all recorded ethnicities and origins, according to the findings.
The national picture mirrors a decline in births seen worldwide, a trend some experts say has been accelerated by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
What’s in the report?
In the CDC report, demographers examined the country’s general fertility rate, which compares the number of live births with the number of women considered to be of childbearing age – between 15 and 44 years old.
In 2020, the general fertility rate in the US was about 56 births per 1,000 women – the lowest rate on record and about half of what it was in the early 1960s.
Read more @BBC
216 views
