US births fell in 2008, the first full year of the recession, the first annual decline in births since the start of the decade. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
ATLANTA - THERE aren't just fewer jobs in the US recession. There are fewer babies, too.
Baby boom in 2007
OF COURSE, 2007 was a year in which more babies were born in the United States than any other year in the nation's history. In the past, a fluctuation of births by 1 or 2 per cent would not be seen as very significant, especially from such an unusual year.
But the drop seems to break an unusual trend. Births had been rising since 2002, and birth rates had been increasing in women of different age groups, said Ms Ventura, chief of the agency's reproductive statistics branch.
US births fell in 2008, the first full year of the recession, marking the first annual decline in births since the start of the decade and ending an American baby boomlet.
The downturn in the US economy best explains the drop in maternity, some experts believe. The Great Depression and subsequent recessions all were accompanied by a decline in births, said Carol Hogue, an Emory University professor of maternal and child health and epidemiology.
And the numbers have never rebounded until the economy pulled out of it, she said, calling the 2008 recession the most likely culprit for fewer babies.
It's not clear that it's the only explanation, however. Another expert noted a recent decline in immigration to the US may also be a factor.
America recorded about 4,247,000 births last year, down about 68,000 from 2007, according to a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics.
This recession began in December 2007, and since then the economy has lost almost 7 million jobs. Housing foreclosures worsened in 2007 too, and fell into a state of crisis in 2008.
The largest decline in births were in California and Florida, two states hit hardest by the housing crisis.
'I wasn't surprised,' Prof Hogue said, of the new numbers, which are not final and will be updated.
But the downturn's effect on the public psychology - and families' willingness to have babies - may not have really hit until the fall of 2008, said Stephanie Ventura of the health statistics centre, the agency that put out the report. -- AP
