The fertility rate in the United States has dropped to a new low of 1.6 children per woman, according to new data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The data released on Thursday continues a trend in birth rates that has been sliding downward for nearly two decades.
“We’re seeing this as part of an ongoing process of fertility delay. We know that the US population is still growing, and we still have a natural increase — more births than deaths,” Leslie Root, a University of Colorado Boulder researcher focused on fertility and population policy, told The Associated Press news agency.
The US fertility rate has gone up and down over the years, reaching 3.5 percent in the early 1960s before dropping to 1.7 percent by 1976 and then rebounding to 2.1 percent in 2007.
Lower fertility rates are common in wealthier countries, and the new figures put the US roughly on par with its Western European counterparts.
The birth rate trends can be influenced by a variety of factors, including economic stability and the affordability of necessities such as housing. Experts pointed to how those influences can place strains on households and affect mental health.
“Worry is not a good moment to have kids,” Karen Guzzo, the director of the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina, told The Associated Press.
Some lawmakers have expressed alarm over declining fertility rates and called on the government to take a more active role in encouraging people to have children and promoting policies that facilitate that goal.
Officials within the administration of US President Donald Trump have floated the idea of changing tax policy to favour people who have children, and Trump issued an executive order meant to reduce barriers to processes such as in vitro fertilisation.
At an event during Women’s History Month, Trump even dubbed himself the “fertility president”.
But the administration has also moved to slash funding for social programmes that experts say can offer an important safety net for working people who want to have a family but may be worried about the financial strain.
Cuts have also affected medical researchers investigating fertility-related treatments.
“The things that they are doing are really symbolic and not likely to budge things for real Americans,” said Guzzo.
