The current birth rate is even lower than during the Great Depression. In 2025, only 3.6 million babies were born, which is fewer than the 4.3 million born in 1961, even though the U.S. population is now much larger.
The drop in fertility has been building for decades, falling 23% since 2007 alone. While there was a brief uptick in the 1990s and early 2000s, the overall decline has been steady since the 1960s and has accelerated since 2006.
A sustained low birth rate will cause the population to age, the workforce to shrink and put huge financial strain on programs like Social Security and Medicare. Fewer young workers will have to support a growing number of elderly people.
Many adults say they want two or three children but feel they cannot afford them. High housing costs, job insecurity, and the soaring price of child care have made parenthood feel impossible for millions of Americans.
The American family is shrinking at an unprecedented pace. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveal that the United States birth rate has fallen to 1.62 births per woman in 2023, the lowest figure since the government began tracking fertility data in the 1930s.
This rate sits far below the replacement-level fertility of 2.1 births per woman needed to maintain a stable population....<<<Read More>>>....
