By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
The economy, an entitlement mentality and loss of respect for human life are being blamed for a drop in the U.S. birth rate to 2.01, which is less than the replacement rate of 2.1.
According to the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), the latest Census data reports that the number of babies born in the United States fell by 2.3 percent in 2009, a number that is continuing to slide. This brought the total fertility rate for 2009 to 2.01, the lowest level since 1998.
In 2009, the birth rate fell among nearly all age groups—except for a slight uptick among women in their early 40s. The rate of births to unmarried women declined overall, but the teen birth rate reached historic low levels with the birth birth rate for women ages 15 to 19 falling to 39.1 births per 1,000 women, the lowest level since the government began tracking teenage birth data in 1940. Births to married women also declined.
Analysts are not surprised by the declining numbers in the current economic downturn. In fact, many had predicted fertility declines given high unemployment rates, the home mortgage crisis, and slow economic growth since 2008. The Great Depression of the 1930s and the “oil-shock” of the 1970s were also periods of record low fertility in the United States.
“However, the question remains: Will fertility bounce back when the economy improves, or will low fertility become the norm for Americans, as it has for Canadians and Europeans?” asks the PRB.
“Even at its current low level, the U.S. rate is higher than nearly every developed country, and these countries also experienced fertility declines during the recent recession. Will couples eventually have the babies they postponed during the recession?”
Jordan Ballor of the Acton Institute hopes this will be the case, but believes the nation needs to pay attention to factors that are effecting the declining birth rates, from the legal and cultural shift inaugurated with the legalization of abortion in 1973 to the pursuit of a radical environmental agenda by “fringe elements” who characterize human life as inherently destructive and harmful to nature.
“But financial ecology plays an important role as well,” he writes. “The downturn in the birthrate over the last few years reflects the pessimism and perceived constraint of raising children in the midst of economic recession. Healthy and vibrant economies promote the flourishing of healthy and vibrant families. But the reverse is also true.”
What America needs is a renewal of its moral ecology to one that “places primary value on dignity and respect for human life. We need a moral culture that prizes having children, that celebrates parenthood as a legitimate and praiseworthy vocation.
“Without this kind of renewal, which would result in the literal ‘revival,’ or coming to life again, of the nation, there is far worse in store for us than chronically unbalanced budgets. Jesus taught Christians to pray, ‘Forgive us our debts.’ If we do not renew and reform our culture along the lines suggested here, a renewal that must be led by Christians acting as agents of transformative grace, the debts for which we must pray forgiveness will be far weightier than those incurred by the federal government.”
As Samuel Gregg, director of research at the Acton Institute wrote last year, demography is not necessarily destiny.
“Demography is only one variable among many. Moreover individuals and nations can make choices, and choices change our future.”
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