America’s Fertility Rate Plummets to Record Low

The fertility rate among American women dropped 2 percent last year to an average of 1.6 births per woman, according to federal data released Thursday. This marks the lowest rate since authorities began tracking fertility rates in the 1930s.

• America’s fertility rate peaked after World War ii, with more than three births per woman.
• Before the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, it hovered around 2.1.
• The current rate now falls drastically short of the 2.1 children per woman needed to keep a population from shrinking.
• This shows the United States is in serious demographic trouble.

Trend against family: This trend reflects a turn away from the family-oriented culture America was built on.

• Fewer Americans are marrying. In 2021 the number of marriages per 1,000 unmarried women reached a 50-year low of 28, before rising to 31.2 in 2022. This is down from 76.5 in 1970.
• Those who do marry are marrying later, and women who marry later have fewer children. Half of women who marry in their early 20s have at least three children, compared to only a third of women who marry after age 30.
• More women are prioritizing careers over family, with the view that children are a burden.
• Many women opt out of having children because of looming threats such as economic trouble, political instability and global conflict.

National decline: The Bible prophesied that the decline in America’s families would contribute to national decline. To learn more, read “How Did Family Get So Complicated?”