Why is the US birthrate of about 4 million kids per year the same for over 30 years?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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The Sticks, Northeast PA.
I was messing around on the computer with finding the most popular kid's names. I noticed that in there are about 4 million kids born in the US each year. The strange thing is there are about 4 million kids born in the US every year, for the last 30+ years. We are having the same number of kids as we did in 1987. Year after year, the same number of births, around 4 million. Yet the population went from about 250 million in 1987 to 330 million today, but the same 4 million kids being born????????????????? I dunno. Shouldn't we be up to our neck in kids? Why this only 4 million kid thing? BTW, after a quick check the same UK & Aussies. I don't have any answers. I expected the number of kids born would increase the same as the population, but it doesn't.
 

Just from observation in my neck of the woods, higher socioeconomic couples of all races are having fewer children than generations past. But the downside is that there are children I know of firsthand being born to druggies who don't use contraception while high. That's across all races as well. It frightens me that at some point the numbers of children who are being born to mothers who do all the right things for healthy pregnancies will be overwhelmed by children who were exposed to drugs in utero (mostly meth, crack and heroin in our area) along with the horrible nutrition and other bad lifestyle factors that go along with addiction. I can see how these factors might hold the numbers fairly steady.

Some of the cases I know of firsthand, the addicted mother has had more than one child while using. I am completely for incarcerating pregnant addicts until the child is born, then implanting a Nexaplon birth control device. Nexaplon lasts five years and could be removed if the addict got sober and wanted to have a planned, healthy pregnancy.
 
My guess would be that most couples are having fewer children than in days past. Also a good amount of people, both men and women are putting off having children to focus on their career, with the end result being they either end up having no kids or fewer kids than they would have had if they started a family earlier in life.

fuzzybuddy said:
Year after year, the same number of births, around 4 million. Yet the population went from about 250 million in 1987 to 330 million today, but the same 4 million kids being born????????????????? I dunno. Shouldn't we be up to our neck in kids?
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I would imagine a much lower mortality rate in recent times would play into these numbers along with the influx of immigrants as RR mentioned.
 
Trade said:
Whatever the reason it's a good sign. And the rate needs to go down by a lot more. The Earth is already way overpopulated. That's my opinion and I'm stickin to it.
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Preach it. Problem is, the birth rates of most first world nations are holding steady or declining while the third world birth rate is booming ...and they all want to move with their passel of kids to industralized nations.
 
One of my daughters is 39 and feels she has timed out for childbirth. I said something to her that I have never said to my other 2 daughters (nor son) who still have hopes...and won't until they are super sure. I still believe in families...the joy and love shared means so much. BUT when that doesn't happen...

I said to my 39 yr old, "Are you sure? Yes. Well, then I'll share my serious concerns about raising children in this world we live in today and beyond...there're no signs that it's going to get better. Growing hatred is out-of-control. Our school children are now being trained in how to use specially made bulletproof backpacks. How scary is that for our precious little ones and how will that affect their mindset. Therefore, I'm very comfortable not having grandchildren at this point.

She was said she was so relieved and happy I felt that way. And so glad I wasn't going to be disappointed. I actually am disappointed not to have grandchildren but I already have enough love for them (though unborn) as to put my own desires behind what they might likely have to face in the future.

I think the majority of the US population might be sharing this same view as well...thus lowering our population. But the majority will soon be the minority...and already is in some areas. The minorities (not everyone) typically have larger families.
 
AnnieA said:
Preach it. Problem is, the birth rates of most first world nations are holding steady or declining while the third world birth rate is booming ...and they all want to move with their passel of kids to industralized nations.
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Years ago, there was a meeting of "futurists" in Switzerland, and they discussed the future of Humanity. They came to the conclusion that Overpopulation would be the biggest problem in the future. Furthermore, they predicted that sometime in the latter half of this century, there would be one more Major War. This war would Not be nation vs. nation, but rather the Halves vs, the Have Nots. With the increasing numbers of people living at or below poverty standards, and the increasing use of automation and Artificial Intelligence reducing the need for entry level and manufacturing jobs, etc., the number of Poor will only continue to increase, until their sheer numbers begin to severely stress the social programs supporting them. At some point, in the not too distant future, those who are self sustaining will begin to rebel at the taxes they are paying to support these poor....OR the poor are going to begin to Target those they consider "rich", and either way, all Hell is going to break out. It's going to come down to the Haves not running out of bullets, before the Have Nots run out of bodies. If the Have Nots win, Humanity will revert back to the Dark Ages. If the Haves win, the world will begin to unite under a common government and language, and mankind will begin a serious reach for the Stars.

With every passing year, it is becoming increasingly obvious that these "futurists" were on the right track. Their meeting took place, back in the 1960's, as I recall...before Climate Change started becoming an issue. Now, with Climate Change competing with Overpopulation, as to which will affect societies more, the future looks quite ominous.

The Bible, and prophets such as Nostradamus made similar predictions, centuries ago, and I suspect that they will be proven right before many more decades pass.
 
"The World Bank's preliminary forecast is that extreme poverty has declined to 8.6percent in 2018. The table below summarizes poverty estimates in 2013 and 2015, globally and for all World Bank regions.Sep 19, 2018"

"WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2018 Fewer people are living in extreme poverty around the world, but the decline in poverty rates has slowed, raising concerns about achieving the goal of ending poverty by 2030 and pointing to the need for increased pro-poor investments, the World Bank finds.
The percentage of people living in extreme poverty globally fell to a new low of 10 percent in 2015 ā€” the latest number available ā€” down from 11 percent in 2013, reflecting steady but slowing progress, World Bank data show."
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/p...e-poverty-continues-but-has-slowed-world-bank
 
"....The U.S. birthrate fell again in 2018, to 3,788,235 births ā€” representing a 2% drop from 2017. It's the lowest number of births in 32 years, according to a new federal report. The numbers also sank the U.S. fertility rate to a record low.
Not since 1986 has the U.S. seen so few babies born. And it's an ongoing slump: 2018 was the fourth consecutive year of birth declines, according to the provisional birthrate report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Birthrates fell for nearly all racial and age groups, with only slight gains for women in their late 30s and early 40s, the CDC says.
The news has come as something of a surprise to demographers who say that with the U.S. economy and job market continuing a years-long growth streak, they had expected the birthrate to show signs of stabilizing, or even rising. But instead, the drop could force changes to forecasts about how the country will look ā€” with an older population and fewer young workers to sustain key social systems.....".

Part of the trend also reflects a cultural shift, as more Americans delay marriage and child-rearing. While women in their 20s have historically given birth to the most babies in the U.S., women in their early 30s had a higher birthrate in 2017, for the first time ever. And that gap widened in 2018.
in what's widely seen as a bright spot in the CDC's provisional data, teenagers saw another sharp drop in birthrates, falling 7% in 2018 to 17.4 births per 1,000 teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19. That rate has now declined by 58% since 2007 and by 72% since 1991.
 
The birth rates among the more affluent are declining....as more and more married couples are both working. However, among the "single" and poorer, the rates are actually climbing....as our "social programs" actually "reward" the mothers via added child welfare benefits....thus, translating into a "pay raise". In some "ethnic" circles, about 70% of the births are occurring to unwed mothers, and many of those children will probably grow up never knowing who their Father really is. This lack of traditional family values and guidance is certainly a contributing factor to the excessive amount of crime and drug use, etc., in some areas of most major cities.
 
It's no coincidence that the birth rate in Western nations dropped just as the "pill" was introduced. What I can't understand are those 4 million births each year. Even as the population gets larger, we still have the same number of births. That means that each year more couples are forgoing having kids. It seems like there's some kind of self regulatory program, or whatever, that I totally missed. Is it just the pill? I'm clueless as to the social reasons why.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
It's no coincidence that the birth rate in Western nations dropped just as the "pill" was introduced. What I can't understand are those 4 million births each year. Even as the population gets larger, we still have the same number of births. That means that each year more couples are forgoing having kids. It seems like there's some kind of self regulatory program, or whatever, that I totally missed. Is it just the pill? I'm clueless as to the social reasons why.
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The pill has a whole lot to do with it, because women now have a choice in whether they spend half their life pregnant and caring for children. Many don't want to sacrifice career or other interests on the altar of motherhood.

Also, I think simple economics has a lot to do with it in that nowdays it really does take more than just one income to support a family and if you DO have children, you either have to give up one income or pay for childcare, which can almost cancel out the second income -- so you wind up with more mouths to feed and less money to do it with. The rising cost of housing and healthcare don't help, either.
 
AnnieA said:
Just from observation in my neck of the woods, higher socioeconomic couples of all races are having fewer children than generations past. But the downside is that there are children I know of firsthand being born to druggies who don't use contraception while high. That's across all races as well. It frightens me that at some point the numbers of children who are being born to mothers who do all the right things for healthy pregnancies will be overwhelmed by children who were exposed to drugs in utero (mostly meth, crack and heroin in our area) along with the horrible nutrition and other bad lifestyle factors that go along with addiction. I can see how these factors might hold the numbers fairly steady.

Some of the cases I know of firsthand, the addicted mother has had more than one child while using. I am completely for incarcerating pregnant addicts until the child is born, then implanting a Nexaplon birth control device. Nexaplon lasts five years and could be removed if the addict got sober and wanted to have a planned, healthy pregnancy.
Click to expand...

This is one of the reasons why our society is in such a mess. The wrong sort of people are breeding.
 
Decent people. Weren't you a librarian, a person who deals with words?
I repeat:
How autocratic of you! You're such a lovely person.
 
Here's a verse from the song "Ain't We Got Fun?" written a century ago.

In the winter in the Summer
Don't we have fun
Times are bum and getting bummer
Still we have fun
There's nothing surer
The rich get rich and the poor get children
In the meantime, in between time
Ain't we got fun?
 

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