TODAY’S MODERATOR: We’re having fewer kids

Looks like we're heading toward a future of fewer kids. Our staff writer Lynn Hulsey wrote recently about a new population trend in the United States.

She writes: "Last year the nation's birthrate hit a record low, falling to 62 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Last year 3.9 million babies were born in this nation of about 325 million people. The downward trend since 2007 — when 4.3 million babies were born — was sparked by the Great Recession. The drop in birth rate came along with high unemployment and economic pain, a trend that has repeated itself over history.

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“But what has caught demographers’ attention is that the birthrate has not rebounded, even as the economy has recovered since the recession ended in June 2009,” Hulsey reports.

“In fact, an estimated 4.1 million fewer babies were born between 2007 and 2016 than would have been anticipated given pre-recession fertility rates, said Kenneth M. Johnson, senior demographer at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire.”

What’s up? It’s not hard to imagine implications for businesses, schools and the like. Email rrollins@coxohio.com.

Ron Rollins is editor of the Ideas & Voices pages.

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