It’s official, white non-Hispanic births are less than 50% of all births. Of the 4 million babies born during the year ending 7/11, 50.4% were to minorities, up from 48.6% a year earlier. Among adults over 50, African-Americans are the largest minority while among those under 50, Hispanics dominate. Non-Hispanic whites comprise 63.4% of the US population, but are aging fast with a median age of 42. I’m feeling old.
Tag Archives: Birth Rates
Delayed Demography
As standards of living in industrializing nations improve, their population soars. Here’s why. As better sanitation, food and healthcare are introduced death rates in industrializing countries rapidly fall. But, birth rates remain stubbornly unchanged as it usually takes at least a generation for them to decline to the new lower “replacement fertility” rate. This process is called demographic transition.
Bad Economy, Fewer Babies
US birth rates fell for the 3rd straight year in ‘10 according to the CDC. Teen births saw the biggest decline, 9%, to 43.3 births/1,000 females, the lowest rate ever. And, for the 1st time in a decade cesarean section rates declined from 32.9% in “09 to 32.8% in ’10. More than 33% of births are to unwed women. US births hit a record 4.3 million in ’07 and are now just 4 million. Why the decline, the lousy economy.