Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Economy Affects The Birth Rate

Our discipline assumes that economic factors influence behavior. Here is a good example. Read Older Moms' Births Still Up in U.S. Here is an exerpt:
"The new report on births was issued Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's based on a review of more than 99 percent of birth certificates for the year 2008 — the first full year of the recession. Overall, about 4.2 million babies were born that year, a 2 percent drop from 2007. It's the first annual decline in births since the start of the decade.

Experts say the most likely explanations are the recession and a decline in immigration to the United States, which has been blamed on the weak job market.

Some early birth information for the first six months of 2009 indicates a continuing decline of about 3 percent in total births, CDC officials said."
But
"The one exception to the trend was the birth rate among women in their 40s, who perhaps felt they didn't have the luxury of waiting for better economic times.

The birth rate for women in their early 40s rose a surprising 4 percent over the previous year, reaching its highest mark since 1967. The rate for women in their late 40s also rose, slightly."

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