US Birth Rate Drops to Historic Low After Pandemic Baby Surge

U.S. births declined to their lowest level in more than 40 years last year, according to new provisional data published on April 25 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Just under 3.6 million babies were born in 2023, marking a 2 percent decline—or roughly 76,000 fewer births—from the previous year and the lowest level seen since 1979, when roughly 3.4 million U.S. babies were born. The latest figure marks an end to the rise in childbirth rates seen during the COVID-19 pandemic and puts rates more in line with declines seen between 2015 and 2020, when there were roughly 2 percent fewer babies being born every year, according to the report—although those rates dropped a whopping 4 percent between 2019 and 2020....