US fertility rate fell to a record low in 2024, mirroring a global trend

[midian182]

In a nutshell: The CDC released data this month that shows the US fertility rate fell to an all-time low in 2024, but the number of babies that were born last year increased YoY. It means that while there were more births overall, a smaller percentage of women of childbearing age are having children.

There were 3.6 million babies born in the US in 2024, up 1% compared to the previous year, according to the CDC's data. But the general fertility rate – the number of live births per 1,000 women of childbearing age (15 to 44 years old) – fell to an all-time low of 53.8.

The trend for women to have babies later in life has been increasing for years. Between 2023 and 2024, birth rates decreased for women between 15 and 34 years old, were unchanged for those between 35 and 39, and increased for women between 40 and 44.

The CDC also revealed that the percentage of women who relied on Medicare as the primary source of payment for birth delivery procedures declined by 3% across all age groups.

While the number of people being born in the US was up slightly last year, births declined by 16% between 2007 and 2023. The fertility rate, meanwhile, was down 22% between 2007 and 2024.

The most concerning figure related to the total fertility rate (TFR), or the average number of children a woman will have across her lifetime. The replacement level – the average number of children a woman needs to have to replace herself and her partner in the population – is typically 2.1 children per woman. If a country's TFR stays below 2.1 over time, its population will shrink.

The United States' TFR has been almost constantly below 2.1 since 2007. In 2024, it was 1.599.

The issue is much more pressing in other countries. South Korea's TFR was 0.72 in 2023, the lowest globally. Thailand (1.0), Taiwan (1.09), Japan (1.2 – 1.3), Spain (1.12), Italy (1.2) and others are also experiencing ultra-low fertility.

The trend has triggered a rapid aging of society, a shrinking population, and mounting economic and social concern. South Korea is projecting its population falling by almost 58% by 2100 under current fertility rates.

There are a number of reasons why women are giving birth later in life or just refusing to have children. Beyond those who are focusing on their careers while younger, the main factor is that many people simply can't afford to have kids. Concerns about the future, such as those related to the environment and global tensions between nations, also play a part.

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US fertility rate fell to a record low in 2024, mirroring a global trend

 

[winjer]

With housing being extremely expensive due to speculation, real wages getting lower and lower, inflation increasing drastically, very few people can afford having kids.

 

[gamerk2]

Turns out there are long term societal impacts to decreasing real wages relative to the size of the economy.

 

[Liranan]

By design, to weed out the 'useless eaters'.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

With housing being extremely expensive due to speculation, real wages getting lower and lower, inflation increasing drastically, very few people can afford having kids.

Please explain why the section 8 housing estates are overrun with kids.

Historically, the poor have always had more kids then the rich.

 

[WhiteLeaff]

Humankind is sick...

 

[Puiu]

Humankind is sick...

not sick, just poor.

 

[Puiu]

Please explain why the section 8 housing estates are overrun with kids.

Historically, the poor have always had more kids then the rich.

historically the very poor had less education and access to birth control was very bad which directly affected how many kids they had. but at the same time the middle class also had a lot more kids.

nowadays the middle class can't afford more kids which is dropping the average by a lot. and the poor are working more hours and jobs which makes them want to have kids even less.

 

[WhiteLeaff]

not sick, just poor.

No. people in the past faced immense challenges — wars, poverty, disease, and long working hours. But they also had:
- Stronger community ties
- Clearer social roles and expectations
- Religious and cultural frameworks that reinforced family cohesion
This generation is weak and purposeless, a side effect of the environment.

 

[yRaz]

Please explain why the section 8 housing estates are overrun with kids.

Historically, the poor have always had more kids then the rich.

having kids puts people at the top of the list for section 8. In my city having kids is basically the only way to get approved for a section 8 voucher

 

[VitalyT]

Not to worry, the inflow of illegal Mexicans will make up for it.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Don't forget to lump in the freaks that are believing they are no longer a girl, but they are a boy or a boy that is no longer a boy, but is a girl.

My wife and I did our part, we replaced ourselves - we have two kids. 3 may have been in the picture if they weren't so expensive. When my daughter was 4 and my son was an infant, it cost $28k in daycare for that year. This is the cost of a decent new car back in 2012. After weighing our options for one of us to be stay-home parent or both working....

We found that just one of us working would still put us above the income level of getting state assisted help with childcare. We also found that we wouldn't make enough to cover rent, food, utilities, healthcare and baby supplies if one of us stopped working. Basically, we were "too rich" to get help, but we'd be "too poor" to afford everything on our own with a 1 person income. We both had to work and we barely made it by, always paycheck to paycheck. Financially a third kid just wasn't feasible.

What really pissed me off is when I took my kids to the daycare facility there were a handful of families with 4 or 5 kids that would come pouring out of their van when it came to a stop. Always some hispanic or somali family. One of the teachers at the daycare is friends with my wife, they'd get to talking about daycare stuff and come to find out these large families all had the state paying for all their daycare..... WTF? If we had 4 or 5 kids the same age as one of these families it would have come out to a cost of nearly $50k a year.

Also, you know the daycare owner was making bank because they would stop by in their 2011 yellow Porsche 911.

 

[DrSuess]

The birthrate falls when people are not happy with their current conditions and when their outlook on the future is bleak. This has happened in Japan and China and I suspect a lot of other countries are experiencing the same. It may not necessarily be a bad thing if it is short lived, we already have a lot of competition for the world's resources.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Fact is women don't want kids. Women had kids in the past because they didn't have any options: no careers, no hobbies, no independence. Just get pressured into marrying early and start cranking them out.

Now, anywhere women are educated, motivated, and liberated they are having fewer or no children at all. Even countries with strong welfare systems like the nordics are having fewer kids.

Also, turns out when the guy has to bring something to the table beyond just a job like in times past, guys completely fall apart and women are happier just being single than dealing with some physically and emotionally abusive man baby. Now we have a **** ton of incels sucked in by the manosphere destroying our society.

The lords need their peasants so they're going spin this as a catastrophe, but let's make America great again by going back to 1950's population levels where everything didn't feel packed full of humanity all the time.

The lords aren't going to give up eternal growth capitalism either for a more balanced approach to society, so brace yourself for some major backsliding of individual rights to ensure women are obligated to squat em out.

 

[Megalomaniac]

More and more "independent women" shrugging off marriage and family planning until they're OLD and geriatric pregnancy sets in.

Gentlemen: get your passports.

 

[unoficialoficial]

If we try to oversimplify this complex concept, we might observe that many men don't want to marry before age 40 and prefer wives under 20 (though they often settle for women under 25 under social pressure). It's worth noting that even men in their 80s still tend to prefer women under 25. Once married, if they're not farmers(men decide about if a child will born), they often don't want more than two children (though sometimes happy accidents occur). This preference leads to a drop in the fertility rate, as there aren't many women between 15 and 25 who are willing to marry a man 10 or more years older because they receive too much attention and are confused. These women, typically just a few years later at age 30, want a man 10 or more years older, but by then, the men are no longer interested because they want a wife 25 or younger.

As I said I'm trying to oversimplify this issue and I know there are many other factors at play, but I believe this is the core. Another significant factor is that just 200 years ago, the average life expectancy was 40 years, so our biology is genetically programmed to reproduce before age 20 (women lose their reproductive ability around 40, meaning there wasn't any evolutionary pressure after that age). After 30, the natural attraction between the genders tends to decrease and even if they do marry, they often don't have more than one child.

 

[Thatsdisgusting]

I'm sorry, but how exactly this is relevant to techspot?

 

[axiomatic13]

Man, who knew there was so much bigotry and misogyny in "tech news?"

 

[Porkous]

Some kids are really annoying screamers. They take a lot of time, resources, and space. Back in the day, families were closely connected to their communities. Big mama could take care of the kids, and there were grandparents around to help. But in this day and age, very few people have the resources to marry early. In our century, early marriage is basically broken—how could a bunch of people who just finished school possibly make it on their own? It only worked in the past because the parents and extended family were nearby.

I think having kids just isn’t in our youthful DNA anymore. It’s something society, parents, and grandparents try to instill in us. That’s why, if the timing isn’t right, birth rates are as low as 8–12 per 1,000 people in modern society. And honestly, it feels really broken to have kids before achieving financial stability. If people were given a house with a garden, a farm, or some land to grow crops, kids would probably be more likely. But in the city? No way.

Let’s also be real: kids consume a massive amount of time and money. How are just two people supposed to handle that in a tiny city apartment? Plus, kids can be annoying to other people at times. Have you noticed how parents often seem privileged, as if having kids gives them special status, while people without kids are treated like lesser beings? Dude, children are expensive. Don’t pretend it’s going to be easy or that having them automatically makes you a hero doing society a favor.

 

[Mortyric]

The birthrate falls when people are not happy with their current conditions and when their outlook on the future is bleak.

Look at the countries that are ranked the happiest in the world on different websites, like Denmark and Finland, they still have a TFR below the replacement level of 2.1. The TFR actually looks to be dropping as the economy of that nation gets better, so maybe the financial aspect is not a big factor.

My guess will be that our lives are getting over complicated. Mating (pardon the term in this case,) and procreation are banal instincts, but we are steadily creating a society that does not have room for that.

I see a future where the process of procreation gets heavily outsourced as technology improves to leave us with more time to keep ourselves distracted.

 

[Che Cazzo]

Man, who knew there was so much bigotry and misogyny in "tech news?"

Those were always there. Biding their time

But since Mr. Turnip burst on the scene, they felt bold enough to show their ugly faces and to parrot their leader's ugly words.

 

[toooooot]

Don't forget to lump in the freaks that are believing they are no longer a girl, but they are a boy or a boy that is no longer a boy, but is a girl.

My wife and I did our part, we replaced ourselves - we have two kids. 3 may have been in the picture if they weren't so expensive. When my daughter was 4 and my son was an infant, it cost $28k in daycare for that year. This is the cost of a decent new car back in 2012. After weighing our options for one of us to be stay-home parent or both working....

We found that just one of us working would still put us above the income level of getting state assisted help with childcare. We also found that we wouldn't make enough to cover rent, food, utilities, healthcare and baby supplies if one of us stopped working. Basically, we were "too rich" to get help, but we'd be "too poor" to afford everything on our own with a 1 person income. We both had to work and we barely made it by, always paycheck to paycheck. Financially a third kid just wasn't feasible.

What really pissed me off is when I took my kids to the daycare facility there were a handful of families with 4 or 5 kids that would come pouring out of their van when it came to a stop. Always some hispanic or somali family. One of the teachers at the daycare is friends with my wife, they'd get to talking about daycare stuff and come to find out these large families all had the state paying for all their daycare..... WTF? If we had 4 or 5 kids the same age as one of these families it would have come out to a cost of nearly $50k a year.

Also, you know the daycare owner was making bank because they would stop by in their 2011 yellow Porsche 911.

This is the ting that pisses me off about the empathy and kindness of modern liberalism.
It completely closes the ear to not hear their own people asking for help. Random strangers that lived across the globe in some God forsaken village? Here have it all. I cannot even say I feel very negative to the people who are coming here because they want to have a better life. But I feel extremely negative about our homegrown "modern good Samaritans."
Perhaps, many years later, there will be a discovery, a realization that a desire to help random strangers sparing no expense, disregard for everything and anyone around you has a simple answer. Some common personal issues a person has that he or she is trying to resolve by doing something that does not make much sense but perfectly explains their condition.

 

[maxxcool7421]

Good we deserve to die as a country ... cancel ameriKa

 

[p51d007]

Please explain why the section 8 housing estates are overrun with kids.

Historically, the poor have always had more kids then the rich.

Most, don't have jobs, most depend on "welfare", so they have nothing to do all day.

 

[OortCloud]

The usual racism-and-bigotry-masked-as-conservatism commentary to this article going on here...