Saturday, May 2, 2015

Millennials Not Reproducing

The Atlantic reports on a study of birthrates for millennial women. Hat tip to Instapundit for the link.
In a new report, the Urban Institute think tank writes that in 2012, there were only 948 births per 1,000 women in their 20s, "by far the slowest pace of any generation of young women in U.S. history." In 2007, the rate was 1,118 births per 1,000. The decline in births was largest among Hispanic women, at 26 percent, followed by black women, at 14 percent, and an 11 percent drop for white women.

For Hispanic and black women, the majority of the fertility decline was explained by falling birth rates among unmarried women. That's generally considered a good thing.

For white women, though, the story was very different: "81 percent of the decrease in fertility is attributable to declining marriage rates." (Granted, white women were less likely to be single mothers to begin with.)
This is not good news for prospective school teachers, pediatricians, daycare centers and the like. I wonder if political demographers have tracked the decline in Hispanic birthrates? My sense is that they've missed it.