US Birthrate Falls Below Replacement Level; 41% of Births to Single Mothers

From Catholic World News

The birthrate in the United States has fallen to 2.01 children per woman, which is below the replacement rate of 2.1.

The birthrate plunged from 2.08 to 2.01 between 2008 and 2009; the decline affected all races and age groups except the 40-44 age group. “For the first time in years, the rate of births to unmarried women declined,” observes Mary Mederios Kent of the Population Reference Bureau. “However, births to married women declined even more, which pushed the percentage of all US births to unmarried mothers to 41, an all-time high.”

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Debt and the Birth Dearth (Acton Institute)

• U.S. Fertility in Decline (Population Reference Bureau)

• Demographics of the United States (Wikipedia)