US births fell last year, marking an end to the late pandemic rebound, experts say
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. births fell last year, resuming a long national slide.
A little under 3.6 million babies were born in 2023, according to provisional statistics released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s about 76,000 fewer than the year before and the lowest one-year tally since 1979.
U.S. births were slipping for more than a decade before COVID-19 hit, then dropped 4% from 2019 to 2020. They ticked up for two straight years after that, an increase experts attributed, in part, to pregnancies that couples had put off amid the pandemic’s early days.
But “the 2023 numbers seem to indicate that bump is over and we’re back to the trends we were in before,” said Nicholas Mark, a University of Wisconsin researcher who studies how social policy and other factors influence health and fertility.
Birth rates have long been falling for teenagers and younger women, but rising for women in their 30s and 40s — a reflection of women pursuing education and careers before trying to start families, experts say. But last year, birth rates fell for all women younger than 40, and were flat for women in their 40s.
Related articles
Farm family’s newest crop shows China’s solar ascendancy
JINAN, China (AP) — Shi Mei and her husband earn a decent enough living by growing corn and millet o2024-05-21Forsberg and Beauvillier each get a goal and an assist and Predators knock off Canucks 4
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Filip Forsberg scored a goal and had an assist, and the Nashville2024-05-21Fresh health warning over common additive used in thousands of ultra
Common additives lurking in thousands of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) may raise the risk of type 2 d2024-05-21Meta more than doubles Q1 profit but revenue guidance pulls shares down after
Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta said Wednesday its first-quarter profit more than doubled2024-05-21Pentagon vows to keep weapons moving to Ukraine as Kyiv faces a renewed assault by Russia
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin committed Monday to keeping U.S. weapons moving to2024-05-21Jon Bon Jovi admits he 'hasn't been a saint' in his 35
Jon Bon Jovi admitted that he has not always 'been a saint' during his 35-year marriage to wife Doro2024-05-21
atest comment