According to Center for Disease Control, the birth rate in America has fallen to its lowest point since a recent peak in 1990.
The birth rate was 13.9 per 1,000 persons in 2002, a decline of 1 percent from the rate of 14.1 per 1,000 in 2001 and down 17 percent from the recent peak in 1990 (16.7 per 1,000), according to a new CDC report, "Births: Preliminary Data for 2002." The current low birth rate primarily reflects the smaller proportion of women of childbearing age in the U.S. population, as baby boomers age and Americans are living longer.The results "primarily reflect[] the smaller proportion of women of childbearing age", but there has "also been a recent downturn in the birth rate for women in the peak childbearing ages". I think it's unfortunate that people are getting married later and trying to have children later.There has also been a recent downturn in the birth rate for women in the peak childbearing ages. Birth rates for women in their 20s and early 30s were generally down while births to older mothers (35-44) were still on the rise. Rates were stable for women over 45.
Men are becoming more and more afraid of committment, and women are spending decades building up careers only to discover that they've missed their chance to have children without medical intervention.
Well, I know that delaying childbearing in my case is a simple matter of economics. If I could pay off all of my debts (including student loans) then my fiscal situation would allow a move into something other than a one-bedroom apartment and children might be affordable. As it is, though, I'll be lucky if I can afford kids before the age of 32-- incidentally, the age my mother had me.
32 isn't particularly old. I know lots of people who put off kids until they're "financially stable", but I don't know if that point ever actually arrives for most of us.
I followed this coversation from IMAO, to Courtney, to this site, and I must say it has been interesting. This particular information made me laugh, but only because my husband and I have often discussed it and groaned aloud. My husband and I had our kids before the age of 30 and looking back, we are so very glad we did. It is wonderful and I wouldn't trade a moment, but it is exhausting because it is the most monumental commitment one can make. There isn't no-default divorce court for children. You keep them for life and they take a great deal of time and energy if you plan to do things right, which I'm sure all of you do.
An aquaintance of mine who is my age has a baby, a three yr.old, a five yr. old, and an eight yr. old. I'm not criticizing her families choices, because everyone has to decide what they want to do and when they want to do it, but I cannot help myself from feeling sorry for her! The thought of having to deal with all that at my age is simply horrifying! I wonder if people who postpone having children ever consider this?
I'm sure it's a lot of work, but I don't want to be the 60 year old father attending his kid's high school graduation.