US Birth Rate Hits New Low – A Nation of Singles – Forecasts & Trends
According to this article, “the fertility rate needed to maintain the current US population is 2.1 children born to women of child-bearing age… the US fertility rate among women is now only 1.9 children and falling.”
Apparently the US is in much better shape in this regard than Europe; e.g., according to a recent Forbes article entitled “What’s Really Behind Europe’s Decline? It’s The Birth Rates, Stupid“, the fertility rate among women in Spain presently stands at 1.4 children and falling. This and similar “birth dearths” in other Mediterranean countries such as Greece, Italy and Portugal are contributing significantly to the economic malaise in Europe. The above referenced Forbes article notes,
“Essentially, Spain and other Mediterranean countries bought into northern Europe’s liberal values, and low birthrates, but did so without the economic wherewithal to pay for it. You can afford a Nordic welfare state, albeit increasingly precariously, if your companies and labor force are highly skilled or productive. But Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal lack that kind of productive industry; much of the growth stemmed from real estate and tourism. Infrastructure development was underwritten by the EU, and the country has become increasingly dependent on foreign investors.
Unlike Sweden or Germany, Spain cannot count now on immigrants to stem their demographic decline and generate new economic energy. Although 450,000 people, largely from Muslim countries, still arrive annually, over 580,000 Spaniards are heading elsewhere — many of them to northern Europe and some to traditional places of immigration such as Latin America. Germany, which needs 200,000 immigrants a year to keep its factories humming, has emerged as a preferred destination.”
