Behind the number is both good and bad news. While it shows the US population is more than replacing itself, a healthy trend, the teen birth rate was up for a second year in a row. -- PHOTO: AFP
ATLANTA - MORE babies were born in the United States in 2007 than any year in the nation's history - and a wedding ring made increasingly little difference in the matter.
The 4,317,119 births, reported by federal researchers on Wednesday, topped a record first set in 1957 at the height of the baby boom.
Abortions down to lowest levels
Meanwhile, US abortions dropped to their lowest levels in decades, according to other reports. Some have attributed the abortion decline to better use of contraceptives, but other experts have wondered if the rise in births might indicate a failure in proper use of contraceptives. Some earlier studies have shown declining availability of abortions.
The statistics are based on a review of most 2007 birth certificates by the National Centre for Health Statistics, part of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Behind the number is both good and bad news. While it shows the US population is more than replacing itself, a healthy trend, the teen birth rate was up for a second year in a row.
The birth rate rose slightly for women of all ages, and births to unwed mothers reached an all-time high of about 40 per cent, continuing a trend that started years ago. More than three-quarters of these women were 20 or older.
For a variety of reasons, it's become more acceptable for women to have babies without a husband, said Duke University's S. Philip Morgan, a leading fertility researcher.
Even happy couples may be living together without getting married, experts say. And more women - especially those in their 30s and 40s - are choosing to have children despite their single status.
The new numbers suggest the second year of a baby boomlet, with US fertility rates higher in every racial group, the highest among Hispanic women. On average, a US woman has 2.1 babies in her lifetime. That's the 'magic number' required for a population to replace itself.
Countries with much lower rates - such as Japan and Italy - face future labour shortages and eroding tax bases as they fail to reproduce enough to take care of their aging elders.
While the number of births in the US reached nearly 4.3 million in 2006, mainly due to a larger population, especially a growing number of Hispanics, it's not clear the boomlet will last. Some experts think birth rates are already declining because of the economic recession that began in late 2007.
The 2007 statistical snapshot reflected a relatively good economy coupled with cultural trends that promoted childbirth, she and others noted. -- AP
