The birth rate in the United States fell by 2.7% in 2009! The birth rate, which takes into account changes in the population, fell to 13.5 births for every 1,000 people last year. That's down from 14.3 in 2007 and way down from 30 in 1909, when it was common for people to have big families.
The situation is a striking turnabout from 2007, when more babies were born in the United States than any other year in the nation's history. The recession began that fall, dragging stocks, jobs and births down.
What does this mean? It means that we are finally figuring out that, unless you're on welfare, it is expensive to have a child and to raise it! The rate of decline would have been much larger, but some of us are still having accidents, or I mean, eh...surprises!
This is not good! If we don't have kids, who's going to pay off our national debt??
