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  • U.S. Birth Rates Hit Record Lows

    I thought this was rather interesting.

    U.S. Birth Rates Hit Record Lows: Is It the Economy?
    By Meredith Melnick Friday, November 18, 2011

    Better birth control? No, it's the bad economy. The national birth rate dropped for the third straight year, down another 3% in 2010, and experts say it's because women fear they can't afford the cost of kids.

    According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report released Thursday, birth rates dropped in all racial and ethnic groups and in most age groups from 2009 to 2010. But they fell most precipitously in teens and young women: in teens aged 15 to 19, the birth rate declined 9% to 34.3 births per 1,000 females in 2010, the lowest ever reported in the U.S. In women aged 20 to 24, the birth rate fell 6% to 90 births per 1,000 women, also a record low. Births to unmarried women also dropped 4% from 2009 to 2010.

    The trend lines closely mirror the economic downturn. U.S. births hit a record-high 4.3 million in 2007. After the official start of the recession in December 2007, births started dipping, and declined steadily in 2008 and 2009. By 2010, U.S. births were down to about 4 million.

    "I don't think there's any doubt now that it was the recession. It could not be anything else," Carl Haub, a demographer with the Population Reference Bureau who was not involved in the study, told the AP.

    Other experts, however, were quick to attribute the falling birth rates to other factors, including increasing access to contraception and the success of pregnancy awareness campaigns. "The magic formula of less sex and more contraception is responsible for this great good news," said Sarah Brown, CEO of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, in a statement. "Teens are being more careful for a number of reasons, including the recession, more media attention to this issue — including the '16 and Pregnant/Teen Mom effect' — and more attention to and investment in evidence-based programs. But at the end of the day, the thanks and admiration go to teens themselves."

    Other notable findings from the CDC report:

    The total fertility rate — or, how many children women can be expected to have in their lifetime, if current birth rates continue — dropped to 1.9. Typically, the U.S. fertility rate is over 2. Among Hispanic women, the fertility rate dropped from nearly 3 children a few years ago to 2.4 children in 2010.

    The birth rate for women in their early 40s increased, from 10 births per 1,000 women in 2009 to 10.2 births per 1,000 women in 2010 — the highest birth rate for this age group since 1967.

    The rate of cesarean deliveries declined for the first time since 1996. It fell slightly from 32.9% of all deliveries in 2009 to 32.8% in 2010. That could be the result of reductions in medically unnecessary c-sections, but it's too early to tell whether the trend has really reversed.

    The preterm birth rate fell for the fourth straight year in 2010, to just under 12% of all births — a 6% drop from 2006.
    (Updated) Better birth control? No, it's the bad economy. The national birth rate dropped for the third straight year, down another 3% in 2010, and experts say it's because women fear they can't afford the cost of kids.


    Let me see: plummeting fertility rate - check, unemployment almost in the double digits - check, public debt rapidly approaching 100% of GDP - most definitely check.

    So when is the United States expected to join the Eurozone?

    It seems to me the US is becoming less of a special case and more akin to an average post-modern Western European country by the day.

  • #2
    I think we're turning Japanese.
    No, I did not steal that from somebody on Something Awful.

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    • #3
      I really think so.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Kitschum View Post
        I thought this was rather interesting.


        (Updated) Better birth control? No, it's the bad economy. The national birth rate dropped for the third straight year, down another 3% in 2010, and experts say it's because women fear they can't afford the cost of kids.


        Let me see: plummeting fertility rate - check, unemployment almost in the double digits - check, public debt rapidly approaching 100% of GDP - most definitely check.

        So when is the United States expected to join the Eurozone?

        It seems to me the US is becoming less of a special case and more akin to an average post-modern Western European country by the day.
        I think the article is right and it's because of the recession. Are you saying a terrible economy makes us more European?

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        • #5
          This is why we need immigration.
          If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
          ){ :|:& };:

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          • #6
            But wait how does the economy being bad prevent all the unwanted pregnancies? Aren't the majority of pregnancies unwanted?
            "Flutie was better than Kelly, Elway, Esiason and Cunningham." - Ben Kenobi
            "I have nothing against Wilson, but he's nowhere near the same calibre of QB as Flutie. Flutie threw for 5k+ yards in the CFL." -Ben Kenobi

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            • #7
              Seriously, what everyone should see in this is that our immigration laws are evil and hurt our economy.
              If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
              ){ :|:& };:

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Al B. Sure! View Post
                But wait how does the economy being bad prevent all the unwanted pregnancies? Aren't the majority of pregnancies unwanted?
                There's a procedure that can end an unwanted pregnancy, I think they call it "abrogation"? I'm not sure but it's cheaper than raising a kid.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Hauldren Collider View Post
                  Seriously, what everyone should see in this is that our immigration laws are evil and hurt our economy.
                  Why should anyone see that in this?

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                  • #10
                    Actually, this just shows Drake is getting old and not filling his quota of knocking up hot chicks.
                    One day Canada will rule the world, and then we'll all be sorry.

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                    • #11
                      HC is correct. We don't need babies when we have a huge workforce who would be more than willing to start whenever they are needed. As a bonus, we won't have to clean up their poopy diapers or listen to them cry. (We will however have to listen to a bunch of nutjobs crying about how they "took our jerbs", so that cancels out.)

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by gribbler View Post
                        There's a procedure that can end an unwanted pregnancy, I think they call it "abrogation"? I'm not sure but it's cheaper than raising a kid.
                        Not to mention when the economy sucks even married couples put off having kids.
                        Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Kitschum View Post

                          Let me see: plummeting fertility rate - check, unemployment almost in the double digits - check, public debt rapidly approaching 100% of GDP - most definitely check.
                          All of these are in part symptoms of increasingly european policies and attitudes among the chattering classes.
                          12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
                          Stadtluft Macht Frei
                          Killing it is the new killing it
                          Ultima Ratio Regum

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                          • #14
                            If I get one more girl pregnant.....
                            What can make a nigga wanna fight a whole night club/Figure that he ought to maybe be a pimp simply 'cause he don't like love/What can make a nigga wanna achy, break all rules/In a book when it took a lot to get you hooked up to this volume/
                            What can make a nigga wanna loose all faith in/Anything that he can't feel through his chest wit sensation

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                            • #15
                              ...you'll finish filling your savings card and get a "free one" at the clinic?
                              No, I did not steal that from somebody on Something Awful.

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