US birth rate drops, recession cited as likely reason

The U.S. birth rate has dropped for the second year in a row, and experts think the wrenching recession has led many people to put off having children. The 2009 birth rate also set a record for being the lowest in a century.

Births fell 2.7% last year even as the population grew, according to numbers released Friday by the National Center for Health Statistics.

"It's a good-sized decline for one year. Every month is showing a decline from the year before," said Stephanie Ventura, the demographer who oversaw the report.

----------------------The situation is a striking turnabout from 2007, when more babies were born in the United States than any other year in the nation's history. The recession began that fall, dragging stocks, jobs and births down.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dcnow/2010/08/us-birth-rate-drops-again-economic-recession-cited-as-likely-reason-for-trend.html

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.. all signs of a collapse in the standard of living in the USA... thanks to Ronald Reagan and the Republicans.

:kick: